Cx  Inbris 


SCIENTIFIC    CHRISTIANITY 


DR.  GERALD  LEIGHTON 

"  SCIENTIFIC    CHRISTIANITY  " 


SCIENTIFIC 
CHRISTIANITY 

A  STUDY  IN  THE 
BIOLOGY  OF  CHARACTER 

BY 

GERALD  LEIGHTON 

M.D.,  F.R.S.  (EDIN.) 

AUTHOR  or  'BRITISH  SERPENT*,'  'BRITISH  LIZARDS.'  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 
1916 


PREFACE 

IN  placing  before  the  serious  student  of  the 
phenomena  usually  termed  '  spiritual,'  the  follow- 
ing attempt  to  analyse  some  of  the  phases  of  those 
phenomena,  I  wish  to  express  my  indebtedness 
to  two  great  English  writers  in  very  different 
spheres. 

In  the  first  place,  I  desire  to  thank  Sir  Arthur 
Conan  Doyle  for  his  kind  interest  in  the  original 
manuscript,  and  for  the  suggestion  made  by  him 
which  is  responsible  for  the  form  this  book  has 
taken. 

In  the  second  place,  I  wish  to  acknowledge  the 
debt  that  every  student  of  heredity  owes  to  Dr 
Archdall  Reid,  whose  brilliant  writings  on  this 
subject  have  so  stimulated  the  thoughts  of  many. 
I  have  quoted  freely  from  his  great  work  '  The 
Principles  of  Heredity,'  wherever  his  arguments 
bear  upon  the  problem  of  this  book,  and  those 
arguments  have  all  the  greater  weight  because 
urged  in  support  of  entirely  different  contentions. 

The  effort  made  in  these  pages  is  to  show  that 


2O49670 


viii         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

the  whole  nature  of  man  is  governed  by  one 
identical  set  of  laws,  which  have  hitherto  been 
studied  and  applied  in  relation  to  only  one  part 
of  his  nature.  The  outcome  of  the  argument  is 
that  the  character  and  personality  of  a  man,  in- 
cluding his  spiritual  nature,  is  a  biological  rather 
than  a  theological  problem,  and  must  therefore  be 
studied  upon  biological  lines. 

There  is  no  theology  in  this  book  and  the  writer 
is  no  theologian,  but  it  is  just  possible  that  in  the 
efforts  made  to  establish  Theology  there  has  been 
too  little  seeking  after  Truth.  It  seems  not  un- 
likely that  the  Churches  of  to-day  will  find  them- 
selves faced  by  the  fact,  that  they  have  lost  their 
influence  with  thoughtful  men  while  they  have 
been  fighting  among  themselves  for  the  shadow 
of  sectarian  supremacy. 

At  any  rate  there  are  not  a  few  who,  like  the 
writer,  are  convinced  that  the  future  evolution  of 
mankind,  if  it  is  to  be  in  the  direction  of  higher 
ethical  progress,  can  only  be  attained  by  means  of 
a  more  Scientific  Christianity. 

GERALD  LEIGHTON. 

EDINBURGH,  Jan.  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
CHAPTER  I 

FACT 

THE  PROBLEM    ......  3 

Science  and  Christianity — What  Problem  does  this 
involve  ? — Some  general  Principle  at  Work  which 
produces  great  Lives — The  Why  and  the  How — 
The  present  mental  Attitude  to  Dogma — Necessity 
for  scientific  Statement  of  Religion — Progress  of 
religious  Ideas — A  common  modern  Experience — 
The  Use  and  Abuseof  Analogy — The  Problem  stated. 

CHAPTER  II 

THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  ....          55 

Variation  of  Individuals — What  makes  an  In- 
dividual— A  biological  Task — Early  Development 
— Continuity  of  Germ-plasm — The  Line  of  heredity 
— First  Conclusion — Factors  of  Development — 
Second  Conclusion — Third  Conclusion — Summary 
— Illustration  from  Character  of  Alexander  Pope 
— Analysis  of  Traits — Conclusion  arrived  at. 

CHAPTER  III 
THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  (continued)  .  .  .        78 

Qualitative  Estimate  of  Material  in  an  Individual — 
Physical,  Mental,  Moral,  Characteristics — Limita- 
tion of  physical  Acquirements — Scope  of  mental 
Acquirements — Darwin's  Opinion  of  his  own  mental 
Processes — Effect  of  Age — The  real  intellectual 
Giants  are  little  Children  —  Parental  Love, 
Modesty,  Morality, — not  Instincts  but  Acquire- 
ments of  the  Mind — Fear  and  Hate — Most  1  raits 
acquired — Inherited  Tendencies — Summary. 


x  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

CHAPTER  IV  PAG« 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL      .  .  -96 

What  does  '  Soul '  mean  ? — Is  it  born  Perfect 
or  does  it  Develop  ? — Is  it  Personality  ? — The 
Capacity  to  develop  a  Soul — A  gradual  Process 
— Perhaps  a  sudden  Manifestation. 

PART  II 
•  CHAPTER  V 

THE  EXPLANATION         .  109 

The  Search  for  some  Universal  Law — Not  for 
Analogy — How  does  Man  advance  toward  s  Ph  y  sical , 
Mental,  Moral,  and  Spiritual  Perfection  ?— The 
Case  of  Disease — Physical  Disease  and  natural  Re- 
sistance— Immunity — Definitions  of  Immunity — 
Physical  Immunity,  Moral  Immunity,  Mental 
Immunity,  Spiritual  Immunity,  with  Examples — 
Susceptibility  defined,  and  Examples — Racial, 
specific,  and  individual  Differences  in  Immunity 
and  Susceptibility. 

CHAPTER  VI 

EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY  .  .        122 

The  Case  of  Tuberculosis — What  causes  racial 
Deterioration  ? — The  Case  of  Measles — First  Con- 
clusion— Acquired  Immunity — Tabular  Summary 
of  the  Facts  and  Laws  of  Immunity. 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM       ....        134 
An  Agent  of  Elimination  and  Selection — Dr  Archdall 
Reid  on  Alcoholism — Why  Men  differ — Why  some 
are  Sober  and  some  Drunken. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  CASE  OF  OPIUM      .  .  .  .  .150 

The  Effect  on  various  Races  of  Opium — Tobacco 
not  an  eliminating  Agent — Why  ? — Difference  of 
Immunity — The  Acquisition  of  Habit. 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  IX  PAGB 

THE  CASE  OF  VARIOUS   PHYSICAL  AGENCIES  .        156 

Food  and  Diet — Air  and  Ventilation — Exercise 
and  Exertion — Work — Heat.  Cold,  and  Climate — 
Conclusion  as  to  Man's  physical  Nature — Scheme 
of  a  physical  Individuality. 

CHAPTER  X 
THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN'S  MIND  .  .  .        jgg 

Mental  Characters — Nature  of  Brain  changes  not 
known — Three  Modes  of  mental  Functioning — 
The  dual  Mind — Objective  and  Subjective — Instinct 
— Reason — Essential  Difference — The  great  Char- 
acteristic of  the  Human  Mind — Language  an  Ac- 
quirement, the  Capacity  to  learn  Inborn — Mental 
Susceptibility  and  Immunity — What  is  Inborn 
mentally  ? — Variation  of  mental  Standard — The 
Plasticity  of  Mind — What  is  Man  mentally. 

CHAPTER  XI 

MENTAL  IMMUNITY        .  .  .  .  .187 

How  to  lead  the  greatest  Mental  Life — Education 
and  Scholastic  Methods — Qualifications  for  Teach- 
ing— The  Science  of  Thinking — Faulty  Methods — 
The  Scientific  Method — Facts  taught  should  be 
true  and  useful — The  Essential  Thing  is  the  Method 
of  Teaching — Example — The  Necessity  for  Con- 
centration. 

CHAPTER  XII 

MENTAL  IMMUNITY  (continued)  .  .  .      205 

What  is  Taught— How  it  is  Taught— The  Effects 
produced — The  Effect  of  Dogma — How  to  teach 
Religion  to  Children — Mental  Acquisition — Harm 
done  to  Minds  of  Children  by  suppressing  the  Truth 
— Adulteration  of  the  Mind — Immunity  in  the 
Mental  Sphere— The  greatest  Mental  Life. 

CHAPTER  XIII 

MORAL  IMMUNITY  .  .  .  .  .2IQ 

Individual  Morality  and  Immunity — Variation 
in  Individuals — The  Power  of  Resistance  partly 
Inborn,  and  the  Capacity  for  its  Development— 


xii          SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

PAG* 

Nature's  Method — Mental  Immorality— Pride — 
Envy — Uncharitableness — Lying — Association  of 
Mind  and  Body,  mental  with  physical. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

MORAL  IMMUNITY  (continued)  .  .  •       234 

Morality  an  Acquirement — Absence  in  Infant — 
Physical  Immoralities  are  specific  just  as  Diseases — 
Morality  governed  by  Law  of  Immunity. 

CHAPTER  XV 

EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY  ....        240 

Various  Kinds  of  Emotion — Love  and  Friendship 

Their  Modes  of  Origin — Their  Development — 

Factors  concerned — Immunity  to  Love — Love  '  at 
first  sight ' — Emotions  governed  by  Law  of  Im- 
munity. 

CHAPTER  XVI 
SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  ....       253 

PART    III 
THE  APPLICATION 

CHAPTER  XVII 
IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION  ....        273 

Religious  Individuality  the  sum  total  of  Im- 
munities and  Susceptibilities — The  Claim  of 
Christ— His  Offer  to  Man — A  scientific  Offer — Two 
Methods  of  Treatment,  curative  and  preventive, 
the  former  temporary,  the  latter  permanent — The 
Advantage  and  Disadvantage  of  these  Methods 
respectively — Sudden  '  Conversions  ' — Emotional 
and  Temporary — Christ  used  both  Methods. 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  SCIENCE  IN  CHRISTIANITY  .  .  -286 

The  Spiritual  Life  in  response  to  the  stimuli  of 
Food,  Use  and  Injury — The  Responsibility  upon 
everyone  who  hinders  Spiritual  Growth  by  deny- 
ing Opportunity  for  '  Use  ' — What  was  once  can  be 
again — The  MAN  immune  to  Sin. 


PART  I 

THE  PROBLEM 


SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 
Part  I 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  PROBLEM 

NOT  many  years  ago — the  oldest  among  us  can 
readily  recall  the  time — and  the  association  of  the 
two  words  '  Scientific  Christianity '  would  have 
sounded  in  the  ears  of  the  majority  as  a  contra- 
diction in  terms.  It  may  do  so  still,  to  an  ever- 
diminishing  number.  To  most  of  us  the  words 
suggest  a  recollection  of  a  period  of  bitter  conflict 
and  hard  words,  in  which  such  names  as  those  of 
Huxley  and  Gladstone  stand  out  prominently. 
Still  there  are  one  or  two  questions  which  at  the 
present  day  are  very  apt  to  come  to  the  surface 
of  men's  minds,  and  which  have  not  yet  been  very 
clearly  nor  definitely  answered.  Those  questions 
present  themselves  to  thinking  people  somewhat 
as  follows  : — WHAT  is  THE  RELATIONSHIP  BETWEEN 

SCIENCE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  ?  WHAT  HAS  SCIENCE 
TO  DO  WITH  RELIGION  ?  IS  THERE  A  PLACE  FOR 
SCIENCE  IN  THE  RELIGION  OF  CHRIST  ?  WHAT 
IS  THE  SCIENTIFIC  EXPLANATION  OF  RELIGIOUS 


4  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

PHENOMENA  ?  In  some  such  words,  spoken  or 
thought,  is  this  problem  shaping  itself  in  the  minds 
of  many  to-day. 

It  is  important  to  realise  what  an  immense 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  space  of  a  single 
generation  in  connection  with  the  relative  posi- 
tions of  Science  and  Christianity.  As  we  have 
said,  it  is  not  so  long  ago  when  the  two  seemed 
to  be  in  the  most  violent  and  open  opposition  and 
hostility.  Most  men  of  science  were  thought  to 
be — and  in  many  cases  probably  were — absolute 
materialists,  and  the  epithet  of  '  atheist '  was 
commonly  applied  to  them.  That  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  word  descriptive  of  the  mind  which 
no  longer  denied  but  admitted  ignorance,  namely, 
'  agnostic.'  The  candid  statement  that  '  we  do 
not  know,'  was  very  often  accompanied  by  the 
further  attitude  (not  so  candidly  stated),  '  neither 
are  we  interested.' 

To-day  all  this  is  changed,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that,  in  English-speaking  lands  at 
least,  it  is  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  to 
find  men  of  the  very  highest  position  in  the 
scientific  world  closely  associating  themselves  with 
religious  movements,  and  identifying  themselves 
with  those  to  whom  Christianity  is  the  one  thing 
of  supreme  importance.  It  is  but  a  few  short 
years  since  we  saw  men  like  the  late  beloved  Henry 
Drummond  in  close  friendship  and  alliance  with 
evangelists  like  Moody  and  Sankey,  working  on  a 
common  platform  with  one  common  aim,  namely, 


THE  PROBLEM  5 

to  endeavour  to  persuade  men  that  it  was  possible 
for  them  to  live  the  greatest  life.  It  was  beginning 
to  dawn  upon  the  world  that  it  was  becoming 
impossible  for  these  two  parts  of  the  mental 
equipment  to  live  for  ever  divorced,  and  that 
there  must  be  some  way — if  it  could  only  be 
found — in  which  Science  and  Christianity  could 
be  shown  to  have  a  common  element,  necessary 
to  both,  and  bringing  both  into  their  true  position 
with  reference  to  each  other. 

It  was  the  age  of  Science.  In  every  depart- 
ment of  human  activity  old  methods  of  thought 
and  action  were  being  discarded  right  and  left 
in  favour  of  modern  scientific  and  up-to-date 
methods.  Great  scientific  laws  and  principles 
were  becoming  more  generally  understood,  and 
with  the  understanding  came  the  immediate 
application  of  them  in  a  thousand  varying  direc- 
tions, most  of  these  being  aimed  at  making  the 
material  life  of  man  more  easy  and  less  strenuous. 
Following  rapidly  on  the  heels  of  the  wonders  of 
steam  traction  came  the  marvels  of  electricity, 
and  at  the  present  moment  new  methods  of 
annihilating  time  and  distance  are  presented  to 
the  world  in  quick  succession.  Modern  life  was 
developing  with  an  extraordinary  speed ;  and  all 
because  of  the  application  of  science  to  practical 
matters  such  as  means  of  traction,  propulsion, 
communication,  and  travel.  The  tendency  per- 
meated into  every  branch  of  daily  life  EXCEPT 
THE  MOST  IMPORTANT  OF  ALL.  For  a  long  time 


6  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

it  appeared  to  leave  the  religious  side  of  man 
severely  alone  and  utterly  neglected.  That  part 
of  his  mind  remained  where  it  was,  and  those 
whose  business  it  was  to  look  after  it  were  content 
to  continue  on  the  same  old  lines,  using  the 
same  antiquated  and  out-of-date  methods  and 
machinery,  on  minds  which  were  saturated  with 
the  scientific  method  in  every  other  department 
of  life.  The  result  was  inevitable.  The  minds 
became  impatient,— to  put  it  mildly.  Many 
revolted  openly,  and  far  more  in  silence.  Gradu- 
ally and  almost  imperceptibly,  but  absolutely 
inevitably,  the  modern  scientific  mind  realised 
that  it  was  entirely  out  of  touch  with  the  religious 
methods  of  the  denominations,  which  were  pre- 
cisely what  they  were  fifty  years  ago. 

It  was  long  before  it  was  realised  what  was 
responsible  for  the  undoubted  fact,  that  the 
Churches  were  losing  their  hold  over  the  man  in 
the  street.  It  is  not  realised  yet  by  those  whose 
business  it  is  to  look  after  his  spiritual  interests. 
All  sorts  of  excuses  are  made  for  the  failure  of  the 
Churches  to  retain  his  support  and  interest.  The 
present  generation  are  accused  of  being  wrapped 
up  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  or  money,  or  other 
things  still  more  objectionable,  and  are  said  to  be 
indifferent  to  the  things  which  pertain  to  their 
spiritual  life.  The  fault  is  put  on  to  them.  It 
is  not  true.  It  is  our  firm  conviction  that  the 
younger  minds  of  to-day,  those  which  have  been 
nurtured  in  the  atmosphere  of  universally  applied 


THE  PROBLEM  7 

science,  are  more  seriously  interested  in  ethical 
problems,  problems  of  life,  and  thought,  and 
conduct,  and  feeling,  than  were  such  minds  at  any 
other  time.  But  when  they  seek  inspiration  and 
instruction  from  those  whose  position  involves 
the  responsibility  of  conveying  this  inspiration  and 
instruction,  they  are  met  with  a  system  which  has 
lost  all  its  power  to  attract  and  convince,  because 
it  has  neglected  to  adapt  itself  to  the  changed 
mental  attitude  of  the  day.  It  still  uses  its  anti- 
quated machinery,  and  therefore  succeeds  only 
when  it  operates  on  minds  which  still  work  in 
the  old  grooves.  The  modern  mind — the  mind 
which  has  been  developed  as  the  result  of  the 
universality  of  modern  scientific  thought — it  does 
not  and  cannot  touch. 

The  result  of  this  failure  on  the  part  of  organ- 
ised religious  teaching  to  appreciate  the  fact  that 
the  raw  material  upon  which  it  has  to  act  has 
changed  in  type,  is  very  curious.  The  old  method 
was  almost  exclusively  on  the  lines  of  an  appeal 
to  the  emotional  part  of  man,  and  particularly, 
perhaps,  to  the  emotion  of  fear,  as  exemplified 
in  the  terrible  pictures  of  the  horrors  of  the  endless 
torment  in  a  future  life,  for  those  who  rejected 
religious  teaching.  The  appeal  was  to  terror,  and 
terror  of  the  future  life,  whatever  the  reason  may 
be,  is  no  longer  an  effective  appeal.  The  reason 
for  its  loss  of  power  is,  probably,  that  it  was 
applied  in  the  form  of  a  mere  statement  that  such 
and  such  things  would  happen,  and  mere  state- 


8  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

ments  no  longer  carry  much  weight  in  the  absence 
of  evidence.  This  is  characteristic  of  the  age.  It 
is  no  longer  sufficient  for  a  man  to  baldly  inform 
the  world  that  he  has  been  to  the  North  Pole  ; 
the  world  requires  him  to  produce  such  evidence 
as  will  explain  how  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do  so, 
and  a  certain  number  of  facts  which  can  be 
demonstrated  to  be  true.  The  world  has  lost 
its  interest  in  mere  dogmatic  statements. 

Is  the  mistake  of  modern  orthodoxy,  then,  the 
fact  that  it  still  appeals  chiefly  to  man's  feelings 
and  emotions  instead  of  to  his  reasoning  and 
intellect?  By  no  means.  The  mistake  is  in 
assuming  that  the  two  methods  are  contradictory 
and  incompatible,  and  that  religious  phenomena 
are  beyond  the  pale  of  the  laws  which  govern 
the  rest  of  man's  nature.  Nothing  could  be  more 
erroneous  than  to  suppose  that  the  results  of 
Christianity  could  be  obtained  in  the  absence  of 
the  emotional  faculty,  and  the  successful  religious 
teacher  for  all  time  must  appeal  to  the  feelings  of 
his  hearers,  if  he  is  to  have  any  success.  But  the 
hearers  themselves  must  first  be  made  to  under- 
stand— and  this  is  an  intellectual  process — that 
feelings  and  emotions  are  governed  by  law,  and 
that  the  results  which  follow  from  experiencing 
certain  emotions  and  feelings  are  not  matters  of 
chance  nor  caprice,  but  inevitable  and  certain. 
In  a  word,  it  must  be  made  clear  that  these 
results  are  intelligible,  not  mysterious  and  incom- 
prehensible. This  is  where  the  failure  has  been. 


THE  PROBLEM  9 

For  some  extraordinary  reason  religious  teachers 
have  insisted  that  the  sphere  in  which  they 
operate  is  beyond  the  ken  of  man,  above  the 
limitation  of  natural  law,  and  only  to  be  accepted 
by  an  act  of  faith,  not  believed  in  as  the  result  of 
a  process  of  reasoning.  Religious  teachers  have 
refused  to  apply  their  reason  to  their  emotions, 
and  hence  have  failed  utterly  to  explain  the  effects 
of  these  emotions.  "  Nothing  can  take  the  place 
of  feeling,  for  without  it  the  religious  instinct 
misses  its  supreme  satisfaction,"  says  Professor 
Peake,  and  we  agree  that  it  is  in  feeling  rather 
than  in  thought,  that  man  comes  nearest  to  his 
supreme  ideal.  But  the  modern  mind  requires 
an  explanation  of  how  this  comes  about,  and  this 
is  precisely  what  the  Churches  have  so  far  refused 
to  give.  Hence  their  loss  of  influence  over  a  type 
of  mind  which  is  the  product  of  its  environment. 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  we  are  to-day 
confronted  with  a  PROBLEM,  namely,  the  problem 
of  the  greatest  life  and  how  to  live  it.  It  is  a 
scientific  problem  largely  of  a  biological  kind, 
because  it  involves  the  life  of  man  and  the  for- 
mation of  all  that  we  speak  of  as  his  '  character/ 
including  in  that  term  all  that  goes  to  making 
Him  what  he  is  individually. 

It  is  a  problem  which  has  presented  itself  to 
mankind  in  many  varied  guises  at  different  times, 
but  was  probably  never  so  difficult  to  answer  as 
it  is  to-day,  because  of  the  change  of  attitude 
towards  its  elements  which  we  have  just  been 


io  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

noting.  It  is  the  problem  of  man's  greatest  life, 
and  how  it  maybe  lived,  and  it  therefore  constantly 
forces  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  most  serious 
thinkers.  It  is  the  problem  of  how  to  live  the 
life  that  most  nearly  attains  the  highest  ideal 
which  has  been  conceived  by  human  intellect, 
irrespective  of  the  source  of  that  ideal ;  and 
to-day  is  specially  concerned  with  answering  the 
question — HOW  ?  Not  WHY,  so  much  as  HOW. 
That  is  the  modern  phase  of  the  old  problem; 
that  is  the  changed  attitude. 

What  is  the  highest  ideal?  The  answer  has 
varied,  and  will  vary,  with  succeeding  ages  and 
current  systems  of  philosophy,  but  for  our  present 
purpose  it  matters  not  what  is  the  absolute 
highest.  It  is  sufficient  that  the  mind  of  man  can 
conceive  or  have  presented  to  it  a  condition  of 
existence  which  at  that  time  and  to  that  mind 
appears  to  be  the  highest  possible,  and  the  pro- 
blem then  immediately  presents  itself — How  may 
this  standard  be  reached  either  in  the  fulness  of 
perfection  or  even  approximately.  Observe  that 
the  question  now  is  not — Why  should  the  standard 
be  aimed  at,  but,  How  may  it  be  attained  ?  By 
what  means ;  not  for  what  reason.  Both  are 
interesting  and  important  questions,  but  the  one 
seems  of  importance  to  the  mind  of  to-day  rather 
than  the  other. 

The  ideal  has  been  presented  to  the  world  in 
varied  forms  according  to  the  time  and  the 
originators,  but  ever  since  mankind  became 


THE  PROBLEM  n 

thinking  beings  with  a  capacity  to  appreciate 
any  given  standard  of  right  and  wrong,  there  has 
been  some  conception  of  an  ideal  life  to  be  attained, 
for  that  age  the  greatest  life.  It  matters  not 
whether  that  ideal  were  put  forward  by  a  Con- 
fucius, a  Mohammed,  a  Moses,  or  a  Christ ;  for 
ages  men  have  had  their  attention  directed  to  the 
greatest  life,  and  the  problem  has  been  how  to 
attain  to  it.  We  believe  that  the  future  will 
show  the  answer  to  be  by  means  of  a  Scientific 
Christianity. 

All  the  great  ethical  teachers  of  the  world  who 
have  attempted  to  answer  this  problem  for  men, 
have  formulated  directions  for  the  guidance  of 
conduct  whereby  this  ideal  life  might  be  lived, 
and  as  a  rule  have  claimed  that  unswerving 
obedience  to  these  rules  would  inevitably  meet 
with  the  desired  result.  These  rules  have  been 
handed  down  to  posterity  in  the  sacred  writings 
of  various  religions  and  by  tradition  of  disciples, 
and  have  met  with  implicit  belief  in  the  minds  of 
many  thousands  of  mankind.  Such  a  result  could 
hardly  have  occurred  unless  experience  had  proved 
that  the  various  systems  did  more  or  less  accom- 
plish in  the  lives  of  men  what  they  promised. 
By  following  them  in  so  far  as  they  were  able,  men 
did  produce  in  themselves  and  their  fellows  such 
alterations  of  life  and  conduct  as  made  them 
conspicuous  among  others  of  their  generation, 
and  not  infrequently  involved  them  in  persecu- 
tion and  martyrdom.  In  all  ages  of  which  we  have 


12  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

any  record  there  have  been  individuals  who  have 
lived  approximately  the  greatest  lives  attainable  by 
men  living  in  their  particular  environment,  and  aim- 
ing at  their  ideal  life.  The  problem  which  to-day 
men  are  asking  in  this  connection  is— By  what 
means  have  they  so  lived  ?  Not  Why,  but  How. 

Once  more  be  it  clearly  understood,  it  is  not 
a  question  of  the  absolute  but  the  relative.  Given 
the  highest  standard,  there  have  been  ideal  lives. 
The  nobler  the  standard  the  greater  the  lives,  but 
the  same  phenomenon.  In  other  words,  there 
has  been  in  all  these  efforts  with  their  consequent 
results,  something  which  has  been  of  universal 
occurrence  and  which,  therefore,  must  be  some- 
thing fundamental,  some  great  general  principle 
at  work,  producing  a  uniform  kind  of  effect, 
differing  only  in  degree.  This  points  to  the  exist- 
ence of  a  general  Law  ;  and  if  such  exists — as  it 
must  do — then  this  Law  should  be  capable  of 
being  expressed  in  a  simple  and  scientific  manner, 
which  should  render  it  intelligible  to  educated 
minds  which  desire  to  understand  as  well  as  to 
believe. 

At  one  period  of  the  world's  ethical  history 
there  seemed  no  special  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
majority  to  understand  this  process  or  law  :  that 
type  of  mind  which  yearns  for  explanations  was 
not  yet  the  ordinary  type.  It  was  then  sufficient 
for  men  to  be  told  that  if  they  did  this,  that  would 
follow.  It  was  the  day  of  teaching  by  authority, 
a  day  which  has  gone  for  ever  for  most  men. 


THE  PROBLEM  13 

They  believed  and  acted,  or  they  disbelieved  and 
neglected.  Some,  no  doubt,  more  curious  than 
others,  desired  more  than  a  mere  statement,  but 
they  were  too  few  in  number  for  their  attitude 
to  receive  much  attention  or  to  be  very  obvious. 
There  are  still  in  existence  systems  of  religion  in 
which  this  ancient  method  is  the  only  one  adopted, 
but  it  is  the  method  of  the  childhood  of  mankind, 
and  it  has  now  to  be  realised  that  a  large  portion 
of  mankind — no  longer  in  mental  infancy — has 
ceased  to  find  satisfaction  in  blind  acceptance. 
Growth  demands  something  more.  It  is  inevitable 
that  it  should  be  so. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  disputed  for  a  moment  that 
there  is  great  virtue  in  obedience  and  discipline, 
even  when  given  blindly,  but  such  virtue  is  part 
of  the  equipment  of  childhood,  and  should  be 
preparatory  only  to  the  obedience  and  discipline 
rendered  by  the  adult  because  of  reasoned  thought. 
In  the  first  place  the  child  is,  and  must  be,  taught 
to  obey,  without  there  being  any  desire  on  its  part 
to  know  the  why  and  the  how.  That,  however, 
is  but  a  passing  phase,  and  children  very  soon 
begin  to  ask  why  they  should  be  expected  to  do 
certain  things  and  not  to  do  others.  They  may 
and  do  ask  these  questions  before  they  can  under- 
stand that  they  must  be  taught  certain  habits  and 
actions,  in  the  hope  that  these  will  become  habitual 
long  before  any  mental  conception  of  their  ethical 
value  can  be  expected.  But  such  a  method  of 
training  cannot  be  persisted  in  indefinitely,  with- 


i4  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

out  interfering  with  proper  mental  growth  and 
development.  As  the  brain  of  the  child  grows, 
an  effort  should  be  made  to  make  the  child 
understand  that  the  authority  hitherto  used  was 
based  upon  something  more  than  the  mere  whim 
of  the  parent  or  teacher.  If  such  an  effort  be  not 
made,  the  child  will  soon  resent  the  dogmatic  and 
authoritative  method  adopted,  and  escape  from 
its  chains  as  soon  as  possible  and  on  every  oppor- 
tunity. Where  these  previously  sufficed,  now 
they  irritate. 

So  it  is  in  other  matters.  A  large  portion  of 
mankind  have  advanced  mentally  beyond  the 
stage  when  blind  obedience  to  command  in 
ethical  matters  is  satisfying  ;  and  to  continue 
that  method  of  training  one  single  day  longer 
than  is  absolutely  necessary  is  to  stunt  the  mental 
development  and  ultimately  to  cause  the  atrophy 
of  the  very  faculties  upon  which  all  high  ethical 
progress  depends.  The  time  comes  sooner  or 
later,  when  the  individual  rebels  against  mental 
slavery  no  less  than  against  bodily  slavery,  and 
the  form  that  the  revolt  takes  is  a  demand  for  an 
answer  to  the  question  Why  ?  Hitherto  we  have 
done  this  because  we  were  told  to  do  it.  Now 
we  want  to  know — Why  should  we  do  this  ? 
Notice  that  the  appeal  must  now  be  made  to 
Conscience  where  formerly  it  was  to  Authority. 
Formerly  the  answer  was, '  Because  it  is  written  '  : 
now  the  answer  is  '  Because  it  is  right.'  This  is 
a  decided  step  in  ethical  progress,  and  for  many 


THE  PROBLEM  15 

people  it  suffices  for  a  time,  and  for  some  it  is 
sufficient  for  ever.  If  a  standard  of  right  and 
wrong  can  be  put  before  them  in  which  they  can 
believe,  they  are  content  to  regulate  their  conduct 
by  that  standard  as  far  as  possible,  because  it  is 
right,  but  not  simply  because  they  are  compelled 
to  do  so. 

Then  comes  the  further  stage,  which  is  so  char- 
acteristic of  to-day,  the  stage  in  which  men  in 
course  of  time  fail  to  find  attraction  or  satisfac- 
tion even  in  the  knowledge  that  this  or  that  is  the 
right  and  the  wrong,  no  matter  how  convinced 
they  may  be  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  standard. 

The  mind  of  man  has  evolved  so  rapidly  that 
now  the  search  is  for  not  reasons  merely,  but 
explanations.  Only  in  explanation  can  it  find 
satisfaction.  Faith  alone  is  no  longer  sufficient, 
that  is  a  condition  of  the  child-mind,  which  has 
passed  away.  That  is  not  to  disparage  faith  nor 
the  child-mind  ;  it  is  simply  putting  both  in  their 
relative  positions.  Men  now  are  seeking  to  know 
not  only  whether  certain  lines  of  conduct  and 
thought  constitute  the  best  lives,  but  they  desire 
further  to  know  how  it  is  that,  if  these  lines  be 
followed  the  best  lives  result.  Not  '  why  '  now, 
but  '  how.'  Again,  the  appeal  is  changed.  It 
passed  from  that  of  authority  to  that  of  con- 
science ;  it  passes  in  turn  from  that  of  conscience 
to  that  of  Law. 

Hence,  we  believe,  the  failure — in  so  far  as  they 
are  a  failure — of  present-day  religious  methods  of 


16  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

appeal  to  the  modern  educated  mind.  There  is 
a  new  type  of  mind  but  the  methods  remain 
antiquated.  They  are  practically  the  same  as  they 
were  in  the  mental  infancy  of  the  people,  and 
the  adult  mind  is  naturally  unsatisfied.  No  longer 
is  the  grown-up  mind,  in  the  full  vigour  of  its 
mental  acquirements,  content  to  be  told  '  Believe, 
Believe,  and  all  will  be  well.'  It  is  not  so  much 
that  it  doubts  the  appeal,  as  it  is  that  it  wants  to 
know  how  the  fact  of  its  believing  can  bring  about 
the  result  prophesied,  if  indeed  it  can  do  so  ;  and 
until  some  sort  of  explanation  is  forthcoming  a 
great  many  minds  ignore  the  appeal  and  will  do 
so  in  increasing  numbers. 

Some  there  are  still,  who  remain  in  the  stage 
of  the  child-mind — possibly  theirs  is  the  easier 
lot.  But  there  are  also  many,  and  they  daily 
become  more,  who  have  developed  beyond  that 
stage.  They  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  this,  as  some 
would  have  us  think,  who  ought  to  realise  the 
reason  of  the  change.  It  is  impossible  to  educate 
a  mind  and  at  the  same  time  give  it  contentment, 
unless  it  be  filled.  So  well  do  some  systems  of 
religion  recognise  this  fundamental  fact,  that  they 
take  every  precaution  to  prevent  mental  develop- 
ment on  the  part  of  their  followers  by  ruthlessly 
crushing  any  attempt  to  probe  into  reasons,  or  to 
ask  for  explanations.  They  endeavour  to  keep 
their  followers  for  ever  in  the  stage  of  the  child- 
mind,  lest  a  full  mental  development  on  the  part 
of  the  followers  should  demand  answers  to  the 


THE  PROBLEM  17 

Why  and  the  How ;  answers  which  to  be  satis- 
factory would  require  an  amount  of  mental 
energising  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  which  would 
possibly  be  beyond  their  powers.  Systems  which 
adopt  this  attitude  of  suppression  of  the  mind 
must  ultimately,  of  course,  pass  away.  Man  will 
not  for  ever  be  content  with  the  child-treatment 
in  his  mental  sphere,  and  indeed,  his  discontent 
is  becoming  very  apparent  every  day.  In  all 
religious  systems  which  permit  of  any  individu- 
ality of  thought  this  symptom  of  unrest  is  pro- 
minent. From  a  thousand  pulpits  comes  the 
cry  that  modern  education  is  rendering  men  less 
religious.  It  is  not  true.  Men  were  never  more 
religiously  inclined  than  they  are  to-day,  but  they 
are  demanding  a  presentation  of  religious  truth 
which  shall  be  a  living  one  and  not  a  fossil.  The 
food  supplied  is  indigestible  and  non-nutritious. 
Men  are  asking  for  meat,  and  at  the  best  are 
offered  milk.  Being  no  longer  mental  babes  they 
find  they  are  half-starved  on  the  diet  proffered. 

The  plain  truth  is,  that  our  systems  of  religious 
teaching  have  not  kept  pace  with  the  march  of 
human  intellect  in  other  spheres,  and  hence  of 
necessity  these  systems  and  methods  are  losing 
their  influence  over  many  minds,  and  those  of  the 
best  quality.  And  the  pity  of  it  is  that  this 
inability  (or  unwillingness)  on  the  part  of  the 
teachers  and  exponents  of  religious  truths  to  adapt 
their  methods  of  thought  and  exposition  to  modern 
minds,  is  being  used  as  an  argument  by  the  enemies 


i8  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

of  religious  truth  for  the  abolition  of  religion 
altogether.  Truly  they  have  their  opportunity. 
The  modern  intellectual  stomach  may  well  reject 
with  disgust  the  dogmas  of  an  effete  theology, 
which  are  still  so  frequently  offered  to  it  by  many 
as  the  only  food  available  for  its  growth  and 
nutrition.  It  simply  cannot  assimilate  it  any 
longer ;  the  food  no  longer  fulfils  its  function  ; 
and  nothing  satisfying  has  yet  been  offered  in  its 
place. 

This  is  no  exaggerated  picture.  It  is  a  pathetic 
tragedy  to  think  that  even  at  the  present  day  the 
great  established  Church  of  England  expects  its 
congregations  on  certain  set  occasions  in  the  year 
to  say  of  one  of  their  particular  '  creeds  '  that — 
"  This  is  the  Catholic  Faith  ;  which  except  a  man 
believe  faithfully,  he  cannot  be  saved."  Think 
of  the  appalling  effrontery,  and — to  the  modem 
mind — utter  blasphemy,  of  such  an  assertion. 
Probably  very  few  of  those  who  say  the  words 
actually  believe  them  ;  certainly  it  is  true  that 
many  of  the  clergy  even  refuse  to  utter  them  any 
oftener  than  they  can  help  ;  but  still,  there  they 
stand,  and  are  hurled  forth  on  occasion,  a  constant 
testimony  to  the  utter  inability  of  the  sacerdotal 
mind,  to  appreciate  the  loathsomeness  of  such 
ideas  to  the  modern  intellect.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  cultivated  brains,  to  which  such  sentiments 
seem  the  grossest  intellectual  immorality,  turn 
away  nauseated ! 

What  has  happened  to  bring  about  this  situation 


THE  PROBLEM  19 

— to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  cultivated  mind 
has  lost  its  interest  in  dogmas  ?  The  struggle  for 
sectarian  supremacy  simply  disgusts  the  finest 
minds,  and  interests  them  not  at  all.  It  is 
perfectly  true  that  the  mass  of  modern  educated 
minds  are  not  worrying  themselves  over  any 
special  beliefs  regarding  the  Nativity  of  Christ, 
the  Atonement,  or  the  Resurrection  of  the  Body. 
Even  the  Life  Everlasting  is  no  longer  felt  to  be 
a  simple  matter  of  dogma.  The  modern  mind 
simply  cannot  believe  that  there  is  or  can  be  any 
one  particular  form  of  religious  faith,  "  which 
except  every  one  do  keep  whole  and  undefiled, 
without  doubt  he  shall  perish  everlastingly,"  as 
is  insisted  upon  in  the  charitable  creed  of  the 
Church  of  England,  already  quoted.  But  this 
same  mind  is  very  keenly  alive  to  the  fact,  that 
when  a  wicked  man  turns  away  from  his  wicked- 
ness and  does  that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  he 
presents  a  phenomenon  which  is  not  merely 
of  immense  interest,  but  which  calls  for  some 
explanation  as  to  how  it  is  done.  This  is  the 
Problem.  The  case  is  not  an  uncommon  one  ;  it 
takes  place  before  our  eyes.  What  has  happened  ? 
One  hears  not  uncommonly  from  the  lips  of 
modern  preachers  that  men  have  lost  the  sense  of 
sin  and  the  consciousness  of  guilt,  and  that  as  a 
result  they  no  longer  feel  any  real  need  of  being 
saved  from  their  sins.  In  one  sense  this  is  true. 
The  old  doctrine  of  innate  wickedness  and  natural 
guiltiness,  the  idea  that  man  by  nature  is  hope- 


20  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

lessly  wicked  and  degraded,  is  not  one  which 
appeals  to  minds  which  know  something  of  bio- 
logical science.  Men  realise  nowadays  that  much 
so-called  sin  is  an  inevitable  accompaniment  of 
human  nature.  They  understand  that  the  Fall 
of  man  only  began  when  he  first  realised  there  was 
a  possibility  of  rising.  Men  also  realise,  however, 
that  much  of  this  sin  has  inevitable  results  from 
which  there  is  no  escape.  They  know  by  experi- 
ence that  it  is  true  that  whatsoever  a  man  sows 
that  he  also  reaps,  but  they  no  longer  on  that 
account  arraign  themselves  as  miserable  worms 
of  the  dust.  When  men  are  conscious  that  there 
is  no  escape  from  a  certain  amount  of  wrong- 
doing, as  judged  by  the  standard  of  the  ideal  life, 
that  none  can  quite  attain  to  his  own  ideal  life, 
that  in  very  truth  errare  est  humanum,  it  is 
impossible  that  they  should  any  longer  be  terribly 
alarmed  by  threats  of  eternal  or  other  punish- 
ment for  the  imperfections  inherent  in  their  human 
nature,  or  very  interested  in  promises  for  forgive- 
ness for  the  same.  In  so  far  as  sinning  is  inevit- 
able men  feel  that  it  need  not  worry  them  from 
that  point  of  view. 

But  men  also  realise  that  there  are  those  in  the 
world  who  appear  almost  sinless,  or  at  least  very 
much  less  sinful  than  others,  and  they  wish  to 
know  how  this  happens.  That  is  the  problem. 
Some  people  seem  to  be  born  saints  ;  others,  after 
a  longer  or  shorter  period  of  sinning,  appear  to 
gradually  change  and  turn  away  from  their  former 


THE  PROBLEM  21 

mode  of  living.  Others,  again,  appear  to  make 
the  alteration  suddenly.  The  problem  that  sug- 
gests itself  to  the  modern  mind  in  this  connection 
is — How  are  these  '  born  saints  '  produced  ? 
and  in  the  latter  case,  What  process  or  processes 
have  these  people  undergone  which  have  pro- 
duced in  them  such  a  revolution  ?  It  is  no  answer 
or  explanation  simply  to  give  the  process  a  name 
and  call  it  '  conversion  '  or  anything  else.  The 
point  of  interest  and  importance  to  men  now  is 
not  what  the  process  is  called  but  how  it  is  done. 
If  this  information  be  forthcoming  they  will  then 
see  whether  it  is  applicable  to  themselves.  It 
seems  that  the  absence  of  any  intelligible  statement 
or  explanation  concerning  this  problem  is  the 
reason  why  the  modern  mind  is  turning  away 
so  much  from  allegiance  to  orthodox  religious 
ministrations.  It  can  no  longer  breathe  their 
atmosphere.  It  does  not  satisfy  the  intellect ; 
it  merely  appeals  to  emotions  and  therefore 
restricts  its  influence  to  minds  of  the  emotional 
temperament ;  all  very  excellent  for  them  but 
quite  unsuitable  for  the  modern  type  of  mind. 
Hence  the  predominance  of  women  in  places  of 
worship.  The  men  who  are  less  governed  by 
their  emotions  in  these  matters,  and  who  want  a 
religion  which  is  satisfying  intellectually  as  well, 
are  gradually  severing  their  connection  with  the 
'  Churches,'  and  where  they  are  still  found 
associated  with  them,  it  is  generally  on  account 
of  some  family  or  other  social  ties,  which  seem  to 


22  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

them  sufficient  reason  for  their  continuing  to 
observe  these  ministrations.  We  say  nothing  of 
baser  motives  which  attract  some.  But  in  their 
inmost  minds  these  men  care  little  or  nothing 
about  the  theology  of  the  denomination  to  which 
they  profess  to  subscribe  and  to  which  they 
remain  formally  attached,  except  perhaps  as  a 
machine  on  which  to  practise  mental  gymnastics. 
Such  a  man  if  asked  his  real  reason,  and  if  he  gave 
it  candidly,  would  probably  in  many  cases  say, 
that  he  went  to  Church  because  it  made  his  wife 
happier,  and  we  are  not  sure  that  there  are  many 
better  reasons. 

These  men,  however,  as  well  as  those  that  have 
given  up  orthodox  observances,  are  no  less  re- 
ligious than  their  fathers  and  grandfathers ;  in 
fact,  if  they  be  judged  by  current  standards  of 
right  and  wrong  living,  they  are  probably  better 
than  the  men  of  any  previous  generation.  If  the 
essence  of  the  divine  be  the  spirit  of  charity,  they 
are  nearer  the  ideal  than  men  used  to  be.  They 
no  longer,  however,  feel  the  necessity  nor  even 
the  importance  of  special  forms  of  beliefs.  They 
are  beginning  to  live  without  these.  To  this  type 
of  mind  a  dogmatic  creed  is  a  positive  hindrance 
to  ethical  progress.  It  is  a  mental  clog.  It 
follows,  therefore,  that  if  men  of  this  type  are  to 
be  kept  within  the  sphere  of  organised  religious 
influence,  there  will  have  to  be  offered  to  them 
something  more  than  has  hitherto  been  deemed 
necessary. 


THE  PROBLEM  23 

Two  things  are  required  from  those  whose 
business  it  is  to  minister  to  religious  needs.  The 
first  is  that  the  position  and  attitude  of  the  modern 
mind  must  be  clearly  understood  ;  and  the  second 
is  that  the  fullest  sympathy  must  be  extended  to 
that  attitude.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  this 
is  far  from  being  the  case  at  present.  No  one  has 
any  night  to  blame  them  for  their  dissatisfaction. 
These  men  are  mentally  the  product  of  their 
modern  environment.  In  every  sphere  of  mental 
activity,  except  in  that  of  religion,  their  position 
is  clearly  recognised  and  even  encouraged.  A 
modern  student  of  astronomy  who  in  this  depart- 
ment of  knowledge  remained  content  and  satis- 
fied with  the  explanations  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
would  be  laughed  to  scorn,  although  the  pheno- 
mena he  was  studying  were  the  same  then  as  to-day 
and  although  astronomical  truth  remains  the 
same.  The  methods  of  study,  however,  have 
changed,  as  have  the  methods  of  teaching  the 
truth.  It  is  only  in  the  department  of  religious 
truth  that  no  advance  is  made  in  the  methods  of 
study  and  teaching.  It  is  quite  true  that  there  are 
many  religious  teachers  who  recognise  that  the 
old  methods  of  presenting  those  truths  are  now 
impotent,  but  they  are  apparently  prevented  by 
militations  of  one  sort  or  another  from  giving  vent 
to  what  their  reason  and  intellect  assures  them 
to  be  the  only  way.  If  they  make  an  effort  to 
leave  the  old  beaten  track,  in  order  to  meet 
modern  mental  requirements,  they  are  immedi- 


24  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

ately  labelled  '  dangerous  '  by  their  old-fashioned 
or  more  orthodox  brethren,  and  they  do  it  at  the 
risk  of  their  own  prosperity  professionally.  A 
well-known  preacher  told  the  writer  that  it  was 
not  the  pulpit  but  the  congregation  that  was  too 
'  orthodox.'  So  far  as  that  is  true,  it  means  in 
plain  words  that  the  ministers  of  religion  are  afraid 
to  speak  freely  to  the  more  intellectual  oi  their 
hearers  because  of  the  number  of  less  cultivated 
minds.  They  must  therefore  preach  to  the  latter 
only  !  The  same  minister  told  the  writer  that  the 
men  who  are  really  thoughtful  and  who  feel  the 
need  of  a  statement  of  religious  truth  which  shall 
be  more  intellectually  satisfying,  will  find  it  for 
themselves  and  need  not  have  it  preached  to 
them.  The  reply  to  this  is,  that  these  are  the 
very  men  who  are  thirsting  for  some  indication 
of  the  lines  they  may  reasonably  follow.  For 
lack  of  this  guidance  many  are  lost  entirely  to 
the  religious  organisations  in  which  they  were 
brought  up  and  to  which  they  are  drawn  by  many 
ties,  and  are  forced  to  lead  an  existence,  which, 
so  far  as  their  religious  life  is  concerned,  is  an 
isolated  one.  It  is  for  such  minds  that  we  write  : 
theirs  is  the  problem.  They  are  found  in  every 
denomination  and  amongst  all  the  educated 
classes  (and  all  classes  are  becoming  more  and 
more  educated),  predominating,  of  course,  in 
those  religious  bodies  which  permit  of  some  width 
of  view.  Especially  common  are  they  in  the 
ranks  of  the  younger  men  amongst  us  who  are 


THE  PROBLEM  25 

studying  for,  or  who  have  recently  joined,  the 
ranks  of  one  or  other  of  the  learned  professions ; 
and  most  particularly  amongst  those  whose 
training  has  involved  a  study  of  modern  bio- 
logical science. 

The  thoughtful  observer  of  the  mental  tend- 
encies in  this  younger  generation  of  well-educated 
men  cannot  fail  to  be  deeply  impressed  with  the 
great  fact  that  their  predominant  feeling  about 
religion  is — that  if  the  truths  about  any  religion 
are  indeed  very  truths,  then  there  ought  to  be 
and  must  be  some  scientific  basis  for  them,  and 
some  scientific  method  of  presenting  them.  There 
must  be  a  Scientific  Christianity  to  be  learnt 
somewhere  or  some  day.  There  ought  to  be  and 
must  be  some  intelligible  way  of  stating  the 
essential  truths,  which  it  is  the  object  of  any 
religion  to  convey.  Those  who  know  this  class 
of  man  best,  will  find  that  the  possibility  of 
miracles  is  not  a  source  of  anxious  worry — 
miracles  are  more  common  every  day,  and  it  is 
their  business  to  study  and  investigate  wonderful 
phenomena ;  neither  is  it  a  matter  of  great  con- 
cern to  find  a  dogmatic  statement  of  the  Incarna- 
tion or  the  Resurrection  which  will  satisfy  reason- 
ing and  intellectual  beings  ;  nor  is  there  any 
agonised  crying  out  for  a  merciful  judgment  of 
failings  which  are  recognised  to  be  to  a  large 
extent  inevitable  to  human  beings.  Doctrines 
and  dogmas  about  any  or  all  of  these  ideas  are 
not  regarded  as  of  supreme  importance.  There  is 


26  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

not  any  great  anxiety  to  find  proof  to  substantiate 
even  a  belief  in  Immortality.  These  men  seem 
to  feel — if  we  interpret  their  minds  rightly — that 
all  these  and  similar  doctrines  are  but,  so  to  speak, 
the  ornaments  of  some  special  form  of  religious 
creed,  matters  which  may  and  do  appeal  with 
more  or  less  force  to  various  minds,  but  which  do 
not  form  the  basis  or  foundation  of  religious 
experiences,  at  least  as  far  as  they  are  concerned. 
Not  that  it  is  amongst  students  of  the  sciences 
alone  that  intense  dissatisfaction  exists  on  these 
matters,  because  almost  everybody  receives  some 
little  education  in  matters  scientific  nowadays, 
sufficient  at  least  to  induce  in  them  a  different 
attitude  of  mind  to  that  of  former  generations. 
This  is  partly  also  due  to  the  cheapness  of  books 
and,  of  course,  to  universal  compulsory  schooling. 
When  all  can  read,  it  follows  that  much  is  read. 

So  these  religious  experiences  which  are  common 
to  all  men,  whatever  their  creed  may  be — Chris- 
tian, Mohammedan,  or  Agnostic — are  found  to 
be  extremely  similar,  and  the  mental  processes 
involved  so  much  alike  that  they  suggest  some- 
thing in  common.  We  observe  that  these  mental 
processes  find  their  expression  in  the  approval  or 
disapproval  of  certain  codes  of  morality,  and 
certain  lines  of  conduct  and  thought,  altogether 
apart  [from  any  special  creed  or  form  of  belief  or 
dogma.  The  power  of  these  religious  beliefs  to 
work  very  wonderful  changes  in  the  lives  of  men 
and  women  is  perfectly  obvious,  examples  can 


THE  PROBLEM  27 

be  seen  daily.  Take,  for  example,  such  a  book 
as  that  by  the  English  novelist,  Harold  Begbie, 
namely,  '  Broken  Earthenware,'  which  the  author 
himself  describes  as  a  footnote  in  narrative  to 
Professor  William  James's  study  in  human  nature, 
'  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experiences  '  (Hodder 
&  Stoughton).  This  book  is  a  simple  statement 
of  the  study  of  the  raw  material  of  conversion, 
the  study  of  broken  earthenware  of  men  and 
women  which  was  mended  and  became  whole, 
"  strange  and  almost  inconceivable  material," 
which  causes  the  writer  to  express  his  astonish- 
ment that "  all  the  terrible  tragedy,  all  the  infinite 
pathos,  all  the  amazing  psychology,  all  the  agony 
and  bitter  suffering,  all  the  depth  and  profundity 
of  spiritual  experience,  was  discovered  in  a  single 
quarter  of  London."  As  Mr  Begbie  deals  with 
the  characters  in  turn,  and  studies  their  psycho- 
logy in  his  own  exquisite  style,  the  thought  comes 
to  one  again  and  again  with  renewed  force, 
How  did  the  light  come  to  these  amazing  per- 
sonalities, what  was  the  process  by  which  these 
radically  bad  people  were  changed  into  radically 
good  people.  For  the  thing  was  done,  and  is 
being  done  daily,  and  therefore  is  a  process  open 
to  observation,  and  demanding  a  reasonable 
explanation,  despite  the  orthodox  preacher. 
"  Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  phenomenon 
itself,  the  fact  stands  clear  and  unassailable, 
that  by  this  thing  called  conversion  men  consciously 
wrong,  inferior,  and  unhappy,  become  consciously 


28  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

right,  superior,  and  happy.  It  produces  not  a 
change  but  a  revolution  in  character."  How  is  it 
done  ?  That  is  the  problem.  And  when  it  is 
further  observed  that  there  are  some  men  and 
women  who  live  this  human  life  almost  without 
exhibiting  any  sign  of  wickedness  at  all,  again 
we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  a  phenomenon 
which  is  worthy  of,  and  indeed  demands,  most 
careful  investigation. 

These  are  the  phenomena,  then,  which  are  the 
object  of  our  investigation  ;  the  explanation  of 
this  problem  is  the  object  of  which  we  are  in 
search.  Men  to-day  want  to  be  shown  how  it  is 
possible  by  religious  influences  to  accomplish 
phenomena  which  they  see,  and  which  are  attri- 
buted to  this  source.  It  is  no  use  telling  them 
dogmas,  they  have  lost  all  belief  in  the  power  of 
dogma  to  accomplish  results  like  these.  What 
they  want  is  a  scientific  and  therefore  natural 
process  in  accordance  with  any  known  law  or 
laws,  which  can  be  invoked  to  account  for  what 
they  know  occurs.  In  a  word,  what  men  want  to 
know  is— Is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  Scientific 
Christianity,  or,  are  those  who  are  impelled  to 
thus  enquire  for  ever  to  be  regarded  as  perverse 
and  faithless  ?  To  so  regard  them  is  to  inflict 
upon  the  real  religious  community  a  grievous 
misjudgment.  The  Rev.  Washington  truly  said 
of  the  present  day,  "  There  may  be  less  churchi- 
anity.  There  is  certainly  more  Christianity  of  a 
practical  type."  Unfortunately  practical  Chris- 


THE  PROBLEM  29 

tianity  does  not  seem  to  commend  itself  to  the 
orthodox  mind  as  a  desirable  substitute  for 
regularity  in  religious  observances.  The  writer 
heard  a  preacher  say  recently  that  "  it  was  an 
absolute  mystery  to  the  clergy  why  so  many  men 
were  found  absent  from  church  on  Sunday," 
and  so  long  as  the  clergy  continue  to  look  upon 
attention  to  their  particular  observances  as  the 
one  and  only  test  of  Christianity,  so  long  will 
the  absolute  mystery  remain.  Whether  we  like 
it  or  not  the  plain  truth  is,  that  the  age  of  accept- 
ance by  faith  alone  of  anything,  even  truth  itself, 
is  gone  for  ever,  except  for  the  child-minds. 

Some  of  us  who  have  had  considerable  experi- 
ence of  our  fellow-men  have  become  convinced 
that  it  is  the  lack  of  a  scientific  explanation  of 
things  seen  in  the  religious  sphere  which  is  mainly 
responsible  for  the  condition  of  things  with 
regard  to  belief.  It  is  not  by  any  means  that 
men  do  not  wish  to  believe,  but  it  is  that  they 
cannot  do  so  any  longer  in  the  old  way  ;  it  is 
impossible  that  they  should  and  eminently  undesir- 
able. Is  progress  to  be  made  in  every  conceivable 
direction  but  in  that  of  the  mode  of  presenting 
religious  truth  ?  Is  modern  education  and  training 
in  scientific  method  to  be  applied  to  everything 
except  the  moulding  of  religious  thought  ?  If 
so,  then  religious  thought  must  perish — for  the 
modern  scientific  mind,  for  most  men  cannot  keep 
such  a  large  part  of  themselves  uninfluenced  by 
all  else  they  know,  though  some  few  can  do  so. 


3o  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

It  would  mean  that  all  orthodox  religious  thought 
would  be  confined  to  the  most  ignorant  and 
uneducated,  simply  because  men  will  think  on 
these  things  as  reasoning  beings  and  form  their 
own  conclusions.  The  difference  will  be  that  such 
men  must  remain  as  unorganised  units. 

It  never  seems  to  occur  to  the  good  folks  who 
demur  to  the  modern  attitude  that  all  our  ethical 
ideas  have  changed  immensely  as  man  has  evolved. 
Take,  for  example,  our  ideas  of  justice.  The 
legal  enactments  of  to-day,  if  by  no  means  perfect, 
are  at  any  rate  a  vast  improvement  upon  those  of 
our  forefathers  of  the  Old  World,  and  what 
appeared  to  them  as  right  and  just  would  be 
tolerated  by  no  civilised  nation  to-day.  We  no 
longer  hang  a  man  legally  for  stealing  a  sheep, 
nor  do  we  conceive  that  justice  is  met  by  the 
substitution  of  an  innocent  person  for  a  guilty 
condemned  criminal.  We  think  it  more  in 
accordance  with  justice  that  if  the  guilty  person 
cannot  for  some  reason  be  made  to  suffer  for  his 
own  fault,  that  he  should  go  free  rather  than  some 
innocent  person  should  suffer  for  him.  Our 
attitude  to  the  ethics  of  justice  has  changed  ;  the 
science  of  justice  has  progressed,  our  ideas  of  what 
is  right  in  the  matter  have  altered. 

But  when  we  come  to  religious  matters,  we  are 
told  that  there  is  no  need  to  make  any  progress 
of  this  kind,  it  is  most  unorthodox.  What  was 
sufficient  for  our  forefathers  should  be  so  for  us. 
We  must  still  feed  on  the  nourishment  offered  to 


THE  PROBLEM  31 

the  world  when  it  was  in  religious  infancy  !  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  the  religious  stomach  of  to-day 
cannot  assimilate  the  old  food,  or  that  it  is  found 
insufficient  for  the  nutrition  of  the  more  fully 
grown  body !  True  there  are  plenty  of  religious 
babes  still  in  the  world  who  still  demand  the 
treatment  of  infancy  and  for  whom  that  treat- 
ment is  the  only  scientific  one  ;  but  there  are  also 
still  more  religious  men,  and  some  women,  who 
are  demanding  to  be  treated  as  adults.  For  these 
latter  it  is  not  enough  that  they  should  be  simply 
told  to  believe  ;  they  have  been  taught  all  their 
lives  to  believe  nothing  which  is  incapable  of 
scientific  statement,  or  which  is  out  of  harmony 
with  the  rest  of  natural  phenomena.  And, 
besides,  they  wish  to  understand,  as  well  as  to 
believe  ;  belief  without  comprehension,  for  them 
spells  indifference  and  religious  sterility.  If  the 
possibility  of  any  explanation  is  denied,  or  if 
the  right  of  enquiry  is  forbidden,  it  simply  means 
that  for  them  the  subject  is  taken  out  of  the  list 
of  those  in  which  they  take  an  interest. 

The  greater  part  of  this  book,  then,  is  a  humble 
effort  to  search  out  a  true  scientific  basis  of 
religious  phenomena  ;  to  find,  and  state  if  found, 
some  law  in  accordance  with  which  religious 
experiences  seem  to  occur.  There  must  be  some 
such  definite  law  producing  processes  which  we 
see  bring  about  definite  results.  If  we  regard 
these  phenomena  and  experiences  to  be  common 
to  all — and  when  we  talk  quietly  and  privately 


32  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

to  men  we  find  they  are  so — then  we  are  justified 
in  expecting  some  light  from  such  a  search.  And 
should  we  find  in  our  enquiry  into  human  char- 
acters that  there  are  laws  and  principles  which 
seem  to  govern  man's  development  in  every 
direction  and  in  every  part  of  him,  we  shall  also 
be  justified  in  applying  these  same  laws  to  the 
religious  sphere  in  order  to  observe  if  they  are 
equally  applicable  there.  These  experiences  are 
certainly  mental,  and  therefore  our  statement 
is  not  an  analogy,  unless  the  mind  of  man  is  some- 
thing perfectly  distinct  from  the  rest  of  him. 
Analogies  compare  things  different ;  we  are  search- 
ing for  laws  which  govern  things  similar.  It  is 
not  of  great  importance  whether  the  particular 
view  to  be  put  forward  is  absolutely  correct,  but 
the  fact  that  it  has  helped  not  a  few  already,  is 
the  justification  of  its  appearance  in  this  form. 

Our  study  and  statement  of  it  will,  of  course, 
not  appeal  to  all ;  no  view  can  do  that  because 
all  are  not  constituted  alike  mentally  nor  equally 
developed  intellectually.  To  some  it  may  appear 
too  simple,  to  others  too  complicated.  A  thousand 
minds  see  an  identical  truth  in  as  many  different 
aspects,  absorbing  its  elements  and  essence  in  as 
many  varying  proportions.  So  one  person  gazing 
consciously  at  the  landscape  before  him  sees  only 
the  hamlet  in  the  immediate  foreground,  whilst 
his  companion  beside  him,  unconscious  of  the 
hamlet,  has  his  attention  riveted  upon  the  far-off 
peak  half-hidden  in  the  distant  clouds.  It  is  not 


THE  PROBLEM  33 

too  much  to  hope,  however,  that  the  explana- 
tion of  character  here  proffered  be  of  interest 
and  assistance  to  some  in  the  direction  of  pointing 
out  that  there  is  solid  scientific  ground — not  mere 
assertion — for  expecting  certain  definite  results 
to  follow  certain  equally  definite  processes. 

We  are  well  aware  that  there  are  those  in  matters 
religious,  as  in  other  matters,  who  require  nothing 
more  than  to  be  told  what  to  do,  and  they  will  do 
it.  These  have  their  reward  in  the  result  obtained, 
and  if  mental  effort  is  a  thing  to  be  avoided,  they 
are  to  be  envied.  In  virtue  of  their  child-like 
attitude  they  are  saved  much  if  not  all  of  the 
struggle  that  is  the  heritage  of  adult  life.  Our 
concern  is  not  with  them.  We  refer  to  them  in 
no  critical  or  derogatory  spirit,  nor  do  we  use  the 
term  '  child-like  '  in  any  tone  of  reproach,  but 
simply  descriptive  of  a  stage  of  development. 
But  our  task  is  with  the  others,  the  possibly 
increasing  number  of  others,  whose  minds  are  so 
constituted  that  they  must  ask  Why  and  How. 
To  the  former,  this  book  will  not  appeal  at  all ; 
they  would  probably  read  it,  if  at  all,  with  feel- 
ings of  considerable  impatience.  But  we  would 
earnestly  contend  that  they  need  have  no  quarrel 
with  those  in  the  latter  group,  if  perchance  one 
single  mind  should  be  stimulated  to  think  again 
on  these  or  other  scientific  lines.  To  the  former 
the  problem  is  non-existent ;  to  the  latter  it  is 
the  one  thing  that  matters. 

There  are  people,  even  scientific  people,  who 
c 


34  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

are  able  to  separate  their  religious  thoughts  from 
all  others  and  keep  them  in  a  mental  compart- 
ment all  by  themselves,  so  that  they  are  un- 
influenced by  all  other  thoughts,  untouched  by  all 
that  the  thinker  knows  of  all  other  phases  of  his 
life.  These  people  do  exist,  but  they  are  becoming 
fewer  every  day.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be 
at  one  and  the  same  time  a  Neo-Darwinian  and 
a  Roman  Catholic,  but  it  is  possible  for  far  fewer 
than  it  once  was.  Such  a  man  absolutely  refuses 
to  allow  his  scientific  knowledge  to  influence  his 
religious  beliefs,  the  latter  are  kept  in  a  sphere 
by  themselves.  He  does  not  apply  his  science  to 
religion,  because  he  does  not  feel  the  need  of  a 
Scientific  Christianity.  But  he  need  not  quarrel 
with  those  who  do.  The  latter  more  numerous 
people  are  those  to  whom  the  modern  scientific 
conception  of  the  world  and  human  life  carries 
its  influence  into  every  phase  of  their  existence, 
and  it  is  from  these  that  the  demand  comes  for  a 
scientific  presentment  of  religious  truth.  To 
them  the  solution  means  much,  because  if  their 
scientific  training  prevents  the  unquestioning 
acceptance  of  religious  truth,  there  are  only  two 
possible  results.  The  one  is  that  religious  truth 
is  beyond  the  sphere  of  scientific  investigation 
and  statement,  in  which  case  it  is  not  for  them. 
The  other  is  that  religious  truths  are  capable  of 
scientific  investigation  and  statement,  in  which 
case  they  become  of  greater  interest  and  im- 
portance than  anything  else. 


THE  PROBLEM  35 

These  latter  people  do  not  question  the  exist- 
ence of  the  phenomena,  any  more  than  the  exist- 
ence of  tidal  phenomena  was  questioned  before 
they  were  explained.  There  are  still  plenty  of 
sailors  to  whom  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  know  that 
high  tide  is  at  a  certain  fixed  hour,  which  is 
indicated  in  the  printed  instructions  issued  to 
them ;  and  to  these  people  that  knowledge, 
which  is  sufficient  for  them  to  bring  their  ship 
safely  into  port,  is  all  that  they  want.  Precisely 
in  the  same  way  there  are  minds  which  are  quite 
satisfied  with  analogous  instructions  for  the  living 
of  good  lives  ;  they  merely  wish  to  have  those 
definitely  put  before  them.  There  are,  however, 
many  other  sailors,  and  they  are  the  most  modern 
type,  who,  if  they  do  not  refuse  to  utilise  the 
phenomena  of  tides  to  their  own  advantage, 
nevertheless  are  not  satisfied  with  mere  written 
instructions,  but  desire  to  know  upon  what 
authority  those  instructions  are  based  and  the 
explanation  of  the  phenomena  themselves.  The 
former  type  of  mind  is  quite  content  to  remain 
at  anchor  until  the  tide  is  known  to  be  at  the 
full ;  the  latter  desires  to  be  able  to  make  the 
calculation  beforehand  in  order  to  provide  for  any 
possible  contingency,  so  that  the  journey  may  be 
timed  exactly  and  no  time  wasted.  It  is,  of  course, 
obviously  true  that  the  sailor  would  be  well 
advised  to  take  the  former  attitude  rather  than 
not  reach  his  haven  at  all.  But  it  is  just  as  true 
that  the  more  scientifically  educated  a  sailor 


36  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

is  the  keener  will  be  his  desire  to  understand  the 
regulations  which  determine  his  methods.  It 
is  not  exactly  a  question  of  praise  or  blame  in 
either  case  ;  it  is  a  matter  of  the  different  mental 
attitudes  of  the  various  individuals.  There  was 
a  stage  in  man's  mental  evolution,  when  it  was 
perfectly  sufficient  for  him  to  be  told  that  the  tide 
would  rise  and  float  his  ship  to  the  required 
destination  at  a  given  time  ;  to-day,  no  sailor 
who  remained  content  with  that  information 
would  be  deemed  proficient. 

So  it  is  with  an  increasing  number  in  the  moral, 
ethical,  and  religious  sphere.  They  admit  that 
the  phenomena  are  undoubted,  but  they  maintain 
that  there  must  be  reasonable  and  scientific 
explanation  for  them  ;  and  therefore  they  desire 
to  understand  those  explanations  in  order  that 
they  may  be  the  better  equipped  for  guiding 
their  lives.  And,  in  addition  to  this  utilitarian 
desire  for  the  knowledge,  there  is  the  necessity 
of  satisfying  the  mental  curiosity  so  character- 
istic of  the  modern  mind.  It  is  this  curiosity 
which  has  been  responsible  for  most  human 
discoveries  which  render  life  so  different  to-day, 
and  so  much  more  intelligible  than  it  once  was. 
It  is  this  same  quality  of  mind  which  some  forms 
of  religion  endeavour  to  suppress  ;  and  just  in  so 
far  as  these  efforts  are  successful  in  any  given 
community  so  will  there  be  a  dearth  of  great 
thinkers  found.  If  these  people  be  told  that 
explanations  in  these  matters  are  no  business  of 


THE  PROBLEM  37 

man,  man  to-day  replies  that  he  feels  them  to  be 
very  much  his  business.  He  is  chafed  and 
irritated  when  continually  driven  back  upon 
empiricism,  although  he  recognises  fully  the 
advisability  of  adopting  empirical  methods  in  the 
absence  of  any  known  explanation.  The  modern 
mind,  however,  cannot  regard  empiricism  as  an 
end,  but  only  as  a  temporary  means  pending  the 
discovery  of  greater  knowledge.  The  modern 
physician  will  certainly  prescribe  a  drug  which 
he  knows  will  relieve  the  condition  of  his  patient, 
whether  he  understands  exactly  how  that  drug 
acts  or  whether  he  does  not.  But  if  he  has  been 
scientifically  trained  he  will  never  rest  satisfied 
until  his  science  discovers  the  explanation  of  the 
results  observed.  That  is  the  problem  for  the 
modern  mind.  Everywhere  is  the  desire  to 
substitute  explanation  for  assertion.  We  see 
this  tendency  in  every  kind  of  intellectual  activity, 
and  it  is  quite  impossible  to  expect  that  the 
religious  sphere  will  escape  it. 

It  is  no  answer  to  be  told  that  religious  pheno- 
mena are  quite  outside  the  scope  of  scientific 
investigation  and  explanation  because  they  are 
of  a  spiritual  kind.  We  have  no  quarrel  with 
those  who  take  this  attitude  and  who  thus  regard 
religious  things,  but  we  would  point  out,  especially 
to  teachers  of  religion,  that  by  taking  this  position 
the  outlook  is  made  hopeless  for  the  scientific 
mind.  It  is  too  often  forgotten  and  too  frequently 
ignored  that  the  scientific  mind  of  to-day  is  often 


38  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

an  extremely  religious  mind  also,  having  as  its 
strongest  conviction  the  belief  that  these  things 
are  essentially  part  and  parcel  of  the  whole  great 
scheme,  and  that  they  are  inside  that  scheme 
and  not  outside  it.  The  modern  mind  cannot 
but  think  that  these  religious  experiences  must 
have  their  laws  and  explanations  just  as  have 
all  other  observable  phenomena. 

To  such  a  mind  the  conception  of  a  spiritual 
world  outside  and  apart  from  universal  law  is 
unthinkable.  That  conception  seems  almost  a 
negation  and  is  extremely  unsatisfying.  And  if 
the  spiritual  world  has  laws,  as  it  must  have,  it  is 
equally  difficult  to  believe  that  these  laws  touch 
man  at  no  other  point,  and  have  no  relation  to 
any  other  part  of  his  personality.  A  spiritual 
world  outside  nature  conveys  nothing  to  such  a 
mind,  but  simply  appears  a  contradiction  in  terms. 
The  whole  tendency  of  modern  scientific  discovery 
is  towards  the  unification,  and  not  the  multi- 
plication, of  laws.  It  therefore  appears  to  the 
thoughtful  man  of  to-day,  that  this  spiritual 
religion,  in  which  he  is  keenly  interested,  must 
exist  under  the  same  laws  as  does  the  rest  of  nature. 
That  is,  of  course,  a  very  different  thing  from 
saying  that  all  those  laws  are  known  and  under- 
stood ;  but  it  means  this,  that  it  is  inadmissible 
to  appeal  to  the  existence  of  laws  which  are 
unknown  until  it  be  proved  that  those  which  are 
known  have  no  application  to  the  matter  in 
question.  The  orthodox  may  hold  up  their  hands 


THE  PROBLEM  39 

in  pious  horror  as  though  they  would  say,  "  Who 
shall  know  the  mind  or  the  works  of  God !  "  The 
scientific  mind  with  a  far  more  real  reverence 
replies  in  all  humility,  that  inasmuch  as  man  has 
already  learned  much  of  what  was  once  regarded 
as  inscrutable  mystery,  why  should  he  not  look 
forward  with  hope  to  the  extension  of  his  present 
limits  of  investigation  and  knowledge. 

Our  contention  is,  then,  that  the  modern 
religious  scientific  mind  desires  to  understand  as 
well  as  to  believe.  That  is  its  problem.  And  as 
the  result  of  what  has  been  leamt  concerning 
other  phenomena,  the  scientific  mind  inclines  to 
the  probability  that  religious  phenomena  will  be 
found  to  have  their  explanation  in  the  discovery 
of  the  operation  of  some  great  general  laws  upon 
some  part  of  man's  nature.  Further,  since  the 
phenomena  observed,  whatever  be  their  explana- 
tion, are  obviously  due  to  an  altered  mental 
attitude  on  the  part  of  the  person  exhibiting  them, 
it  is  obvious  that  the  processes  to  be  studied  are 
mental  processes.  The  processes  of  the  mind  are 
regulated  by  the  same  laws  which  control  the  rest 
of  man's  nature,  though  it  may  be  quite  true  that 
their  exact  lines  of  working  in  the  mental  sphere 
are  not  quite  as  definitely  known.  To  the 
scientific  mind  it  seems  that  the  Great  Power 
which  ordereth  all  things  evidently  works  along 
definite  lines,  which  are  not  eternally  and  unscrut- 
ably  hidden  from  man's  gaze,  but  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  becoming  clearer  and  clearer 


40  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

every  day.  It  seems  to  him,  therefore,  that  the 
assumption  that  religious  phenomena  and  truths 
differ  in  their  very  essence  from  other  phenomena 
and  truths  is  entirely  unwarranted.  Can  there 
be  found  for  them  no  place  in  the  natural  order 
of  things  ?  That  is  the  problem.  If  there  can, 
then  these  truths  and  phenomena  will  immediately 
assume  a  new  and  more  intense  interest  in  the 
minds  of  many.  The  effort  to  keep  religious 
truth  apart  from  human  nature  will  only  result  in 
keeping  man  apart  from  them. 

In  order  to  present  this  problem  as  simply  as 
possible,  and  to  make  its  nature  perfectly  clear, 
let  us  take  a  very  common  concrete  case,  which 
the  present  writer  is  assured  represents  with  con- 
siderable accuracy  the  way  in  which  the  problem 
comes  home  to  men  to-day. 

A  young  man  of  to-day,  at  any  age  between 
eighteen  and  twenty-five  years,  born  of  sufficiently 
well-to-do  parents,  educated  at  a  good  first-class 
school,  decides  to  enter  one  or  other  of  the  pro- 
fessions, and  for  that  purpose  goes  up  to  one  of 
our  modern  universities.  By  birth  and  family 
training  he  is  a  member  of  the  ordinary  religious 
denomination  of  his  district,  and  is  what  is  termed 
an  '  orthodox  believer.'  His  religious  training 
has  been  upon  the  ordinary  lines.  He  learnt  his 
first  prayer  from  his  mother's  lips,  and  as  a  child 
said  it  nightly  at  her  feet,  because  he  was  taught 
that  it  was  the  right  and  proper  way  to  end  the 
day.  This  he  did  long  before  he  attached  any 


THE  PROBLEM  41 

particular  meaning  to  the  words  he  uttered,  and 
he  probably  continued  to  say  them  long  after  he 
had  ceased  to  attach  any  meaning  to  them.  In 
very  early  days,  he  was  introduced  to  Bible  stories, 
especially  those  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
appealed  strongly  to  his  childish  imagination 
because  of  the  stirring  events  they  depicted  and 
the  heroes  of  whom  they  were  told.  In  this  way 
he  received  a  mental  picture  of  the  creation  of  the 
world  as  related  in  the  Book  of  Genesis.  He  learnt 
about  all  the  interesting  characters  and  events 
in  that  book.  He  learnt  about  the  appearance 
of  Adam  and  Eve  in  a  garden,  and  believed  them 
to  be  respectively  the  first  man  and  the  first 
woman  to  tread  this  earth.  He  learnt  of  the  Fall 
of  Man,  the  Curse,  the  Apple,  the  Serpent,  the 
Flood,  the  Ark,  and  so  forth.  All  these  were  to 
him  real  things  or  events,  and  were  believed 
literally,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  were  told 
to  him  by  the  people  whose  word  he  found  by 
experience  to  be  reliable  in  other  matters  pertain- 
ing to  his  child  life.  About  the  same  time  and 
from  the  same  lips  he  learnt  also  a  number  of 
fairy  tales,  which  also  appealed  to  his  mind  and 
interested  his  early  hours  ;  these,  too,  he  believed 
implicitly  for  the  same  reason,  and  asked  pre- 
cisely the  same  questions  about  both. 

Then  he  went  to  a  Sunday  or  Sabbath  School, 
where  he  was  made  to  learn  a  catechism  or  other 
denominational  formula.  This  did  not  interest 
him  much ;  it  was  too  like  an  ordinary  school 


42  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

lesson,  and,  moreover,  he  did  not  in  the  least 
understand  what  it  was  about.  Certain  questions 
were  set  forth  in  it,  and  for  some  reason  or  other 
he  had  to  learn  the  answers.  Then  perhaps  a 
Creed  was  added,  or  a  Prayer  Book  became  part 
of  his  mental  equipment,  and  he  was  taught  a 
paragraph  beginning  with  the  words  "  I  Believe." 
He  did  believe.  Later  on,  he  was  initiated  more 
particularly  into  the  ordinances  and  ceremonies 
of  his  particular  sect ;  and  in  some  way  or 
another,  he  got  the  impression  that  it  was  hardly 
respectable  to  belong  to  any  other,  and  that 
members  of  other  persuasions  could  hardly  be 
expected  to  live  sober,  righteous,  and  godly  lives. 
Long  before  this,  however,  he  had  begun  to 
pine  for  explanations  of  things  told  him,  and  in 
very  early  youth  had  asked  his  parents  some 
searching  questions,  but  found  that  answers  were 
not  forthcoming  !  It  did  not  take  him  long  to 
discover  that  as  a  rule  he  was  simply  put  off,  not 
answered  ;  and  frequently  was  actually  told  he 
must  not  ask  such  questions.  He  was  made  to 
feel  that  it  was  wrong  to  make  these  inquiries. 
No  one  had  the  moral  courage  to  tell  him  that 
they  did  not  know.  So  he  began  to  keep  his 
unsatisfied  queries  to  himself,  and  the  habit  stuck 
to  him  for  years.  He  had,  of  course,  become 
quite  familiar  with  the  narrative  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  told  in  the  New  Testament ; 
and  had  believed  all  he  there  read  without  ques- 
tion. Indeed,  by  the  time  he  was  admitted  to 


THE  PROBLEM  43 

full  membership  of  his  particular  Church,  he  had 
given  up  the  habit  of  questioning  about  religious 
matters. 

There  were  certain  incidents,  however,  the 
impression  of  which  remained  fixed  in  his  memory. 
Thus,  a  stupid  nurse  who  once  found  him  out  in 
some  childish  fault  had  brought  a  painted  text 
and  hung  it  over  the  foot  of  his  bed  where  he  should 
see  it  every  morning.  It  ran  thus  : — "  Be  sure 
your  sin  will  find  you  out."  The  woman  im- 
pressed upon  him  that  this  meant  he  would  always 
be  discovered  when  disobedient  or  otherwise  at 
fault.  For  that  reason  he  must  be  obedient.  He 
believed  her  interpretation  of  the  words  for  a 
long  time,  it  never  occurring  to  him  that  the  nurse 
had  no  conception  of  the  real  meaning  of  the  text. 
But  suddenly  one  day  it  came  into  his  mind  with 
a  flash  that  quite  a  number  of  his  misdeeds, 
and  one  most  particularly,  had  never  been  dis- 
covered, and  did  not  appear  to  be  likely  to  be  so. 
With  bated  breath  and  careful  words,  he  made 
inquiry  among  his  juvenile  companions,  and  as 
he  had  already  begun  to  suspect,  found  that  they 
too  could  tell  of  sins  not  found  out  and  wrong 
which  had  escaped  detection.  The  text  was  not 
true  !  No  thought  of  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the 
interpreter  came  to  him  ;  simply  the  overwhelm- 
ing sensation  of  something  precious  gone  out  of 
life,  a  trust  betrayed,  a  faith  destroyed,  an  idea 
abandoned.  Therefore,  he  concluded,  those  who 
had  thus  taught  him  must  have  been  mistaken 


44  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

in  their  belief  in  this  matter,  and  if  so  were  not  to 
be  regarded  as  trustworthy  in  others. 

This  set  him  thinking  for  himself,  and  he 
gradually  came  to  see  that  educated  people 
apparently  believed  in  hardly  any  of  the  things 
which  he  had  been  taught  to  regard  as  religious 
truths.  In  this  impression  he  was  confirmed  by 
what  he  heard  and  what  he  read.  True  his 
father  did  not  speak  of  these  things  at  all,  and  his 
mother  seemed  to  believe  in  the  way  he  had  once 
believed.  But  he  began  to  read  books  on  re- 
ligious topics,  he  went  to  lectures,  and  listened  to 
speakers  at  corners  and  in  the  public  parks,  and 
gradually  found  himself  in  a  state  of  utter  mental 
bewilderment.  He  kept  his  thoughts  to  himself, 
however,  or  exchanged  them  only  with  a  com- 
panion in  similar  predicament.  The  battle  of 
the  sects  was  forced  upon  his  notice.  Which  of 
them,  if  any,  had  the  truth  ? 

It  was  at  this  stage  that  he  went  to  the  uni- 
versity. He  studied  some  science  and  a  new 
world  of  ideas  was  opened  up  to  him.  He  learnt 
what  geology  and  biology  had  to  teach  of  the 
origin  of  species  and  the  history  of  the  earth.  In 
a  year  or  two  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  what 
he  had  been  previously  taught  was  utter  rubbish 
and  unworthy  of  attention.  In  the  stress  of 
professional  studies  and  examinations  he  soon 
dismissed  religion  from  his  mind  as  a  matter  upon 
which  there  were  many  conflicting  opinions,  none 
of  them  of  much  importance. 


THE  PROBLEM  45 

This  stage  lasted  for  some  time,  but  later  still, 
as  he  got  more  knowledge  and  years,  he  came  in 
touch  with  many  men  who  had  gone  through  very 
similar  or  almost  identical  experiences  them- 
selves, and  who  had  come  out  of  them  with 
opinions  certainly  different  from  those  of  their 
youth,  but  nevertheless  with  deep  convictions. 
He  began  then  to  realise  that  whether  or  not  man's 
nature  dated  from  his  eating  of  a  forbidden  fruit, 
it  was  very  evident  that  certain  lines  of  conduct 
built  up  certain  good  characters  and  other  lines 
built  up  bad  ones.  Observing  the  men  of  his  own 
acquaintance  he  saw  some  morally  dying,  some 
living  and  growing.  He  saw  men  fighting  tempta- 
tions with  more  or  less  success  and  noted  the 
results.  Some  appeared  to  have  hardly  any 
struggle  at  all  to  keep  straight.  Others  struggled 
and  went  under.  Some  struggled  and  kept  up. 
And  in  this  way  the  moral,  ethical,  religious 
problem  once  more  began  to  occupy  his  attention, 
this  time  as  a  serious  question  demanding  study, 
and  he  earnestly  sought  some  statement  of 
religious  truth  which  would  bring  him  some 
intellectual  satisfaction  as  well  as  some  emotional 
contentment. 

At  this  stage  we  find  him  to-day.  That  is  his 
problem,  the  search  for  a  Scientific  Christianity. 
Unless  he  can  find  some  sort  of  scientific  basis 
upon  which  he  may  build  his  beliefs  (which 
eventually  will  probably  be  peculiar  to  himself, 
for  every  man  has  his  own  religion  if  he  thinks), 


46  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

he  will  remain  there  for  a  few  years  until 
ultimately  he  will  once  more  dismiss  the  con- 
sideration of  these  matters  from  his  mind  in  the 
pressure  of  his  professional  life  and  work.  He 
will  live  a  straight  and  useful  life  because  he  finds 
it  more  satisfactory  to  himself  to  do  so  from  many 
points  of  view,  or  for  a  combination  of  reasons 
which  he  does  not  trouble  to  analyse.  But  of 
definite  religious  belief  he  will  have  none  !  In  its 
place  he  will  have  a  conviction,  born  of  his  general 
scientific  training,  that  all  things  are  pursuing  an 
ordered  path  to  some  ultimate  goal,  and  that  on 
the  whole  the  struggle  for  existence  seems  to  make 
for  progress  in  ethical  ideas  as  it  did  in  physical 
endowment,  and  that  the  means  by  which  both 
are  evolved  are  probably  identical. 

The  man  whose  development  we  have  thus 
depicted  is  common  enough  in  all  our  cities  where 
learning  is  abundant ;  we  have  met  him  often, 
and  he  has  told  us  that  the  above  represents 
with  much  accuracy  his  own  case.  Understand 
clearly,  if  you  would  understand  his  problem, 
that  he  has  no  orthodox  beliefs  at  all.  He  has 
no  definite  idea  of  God.  Stock  orthodox  phrases 
such  as  '  the  Grace  of  God,'  '  the  Holy  Spirit,' 
man's  '  Immortal  Soul,'  the  '  Glorious  Resurrec- 
tion/ '  Heaven,'  '  Hell,'  are  to  his  mind  but  words 
which  literally  convey  no  meaning  at  all.  He 
simply  does  not  understand  what  these  words 
mean,  or  what  people  mean  when  they  use  them. 
One  such  man  told  the  writer  that  he  wrote  to 


THE  PROBLEM  47 

ten  ministers  of  religion  of  his  acquaintance,  and 
asked  them  if  they  would  kindly  tell  him  what 
they  meant  by  the  word  '  Soul '  which  they  used 
so  casually.  Not  what  '  Soul  *  was,  mark  you, 
but  what  they  meant  by  their  own  use  of  the  word. 
No  two  of  them  agreed  on  the  point ;  some  meant 
one  thing  and  some  another ;  two  objected  to 
being  asked  questions  of  that  sort  (think  of  it !), 
and  one  was  honest  enough  to  say  that  he  did  not 
know. 

The  point  is  this,  that  at  one  time  this  young 
man  had  no  feeling  that  it  was  in  the  least  essential 
that  he  should  have  any  definite  understanding 
of  such  terms,  but  now  that  stage  has  gone  by, 
and  he  craves  for  more  definite  knowledge  and 
some  comprehension  at  least  of  the  methods  by 
which  religious  influences  act.  He  wants  to  be 
sure  that  the  better  life  is  the  result  of  a  scientific 
process,  and  that  it  is  not  the  result  of  some  kind 
of  trick  into  the  mystery  of  which  he  must  not 
inquire. 

This  attitude  is  the  result  of  the  growing 
strength  of  mind  and  intellect :  it  is  natural  and 
it  is  inevitable.  It  cannot  therefore  be  wrong. 
Such  minds  cannot  be  satisfied  with  fossilised 
dogmas  and  methods,  their  mental  possibilities 
are  too  great. 

If  this  man  be  told,  as  he  often  is,  that  religion 
has  nothing  to  do  with  his  mind  or  his  intellect, 
then,  indeed,  he  is  perfectly  satisfied  that  it  is 
not  worth  bothering  himself  about  it.  If  it  be 


48  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

insisted,  as  it  often  is  insisted,  that  in  these  matters 
he  must  remain  always  as  a  little  child,  he  will  say 
nothing,  but  turn  quietly  away  with  a  sad  con- 
sciousness that  he  is  no  longer  mentally  child- 
like, and  he  will  continue  to  yearn  in  secret  for 
a  grown-up  religion,  a  scientific  Christianity. 
His  attitude  will  be  misunderstood  by  many 
even  who  love  him,  and  will  be  ascribed  to  intel- 
lectual pride,  whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  is  in 
these  things  the  humblest  seeker  after  truth — 
the  only  really  scientific  attitude.  In  his  ethical 
life  he  will  probably  be  lonely  unless  he  meets 
some  kindred  minds,  or  a  woman's  love  great 
enough  to  tell  her  that  his  creed  cannot  be  wrong 
whose  life  is  in  the  right.  He  cannot  believe  that 
his  search  is  doomed  to  failure  beforehand,  and 
still  less  that  it  is  wrong  to  expect  enlightenment. 
He  is  the  product  of  his  day  and  generation,  and 
in  every  other  sphere  of  his  active  life  he  is 
encouraged  to  endeavour  to  grasp  more  and  more 
truth  and  wider  aspects  of  it.  Only  in  religious 
truth  is  it  expected  that  the  old  ideas  presented 
in  the  old  way  must  suffice.  It  is,  of  course,  quite 
futile  to  expect  that  they  should.  As  O.  W. 
Holmes — most  eloquent  of  thinkers — said,  "  The 
saturation-point  of  each  mind  differs  from  that  of 
every  other."  .  .  .  "  Do  you  know  that  every  man 
has  a  religious  belief  peculiar  to  himself  ?  Smith 
is  always  a  Smithite.  He  takes  in  exactly  Smith's- 
worth  of  knowledge,  Smith's-worth  of  truth,  of 
beauty,  of  divinity.  And  Brown  has  from  time 


THE  PROBLEM  49 

immemorial  been  trying  to  burn  him,  to  excom- 
municate him,  to  anonymous-article  him,  because 
he  did  not  take  in  Brown 's-worth  of  knowledge, 
truth,  beauty,  divinity.  He  cannot  do  it,  any 
more  than  a  pint  pot  can  hold  a  quart,  or  a  quart 
pot  be  filled  by  a  pint.  Iron  is  essentially  the  same 
everywhere  and  always  ;  but  the  sulphate  of  iron 
is  never  the  same  as  the  carbonate  of  iron.  Truth 
is  invariable  ;  but  the  Smithate  of  truth  must 
always  differ  from  the  Brownate  of  truth." 

Unfortunately  the  pint-minds  seldom  realise 
the  capacity  of  the  quarts,  and  the  latter  are  too 
often  left  less  than  half-filled. 

There  is  still  one  answer  which  is  sometimes 
given,  concerning  which  we  must  say  a  word. 
It  may  be  objected  to  all  that  we  have  said,  that 
however  true  these  statements  may  have  been 
some  years  ago,  they  no  longer  apply  to  the  situa- 
tion as  it  stands  to-day  ;  that  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
even  orthodox  teachers  and  congregations  no 
longer  hold  the  same  truths  in  the  same  way,  and 
that  those  who  do  so  are  in  the  minority.  It  may 
be  urged  that  the  modern  spiritual  teacher 
realises  to  the  full  all  the  difficulties  mentioned, 
and  has  deep  sympathy  with  the  mind  of  such  a 
man  as  we  have  described.  This  objection  or 
answer  may  possibly  be  true  to  some  extent,  but 
we  would  point  out  that  sympathy  in  this  matter, 
though  welcome,  is  by  no  means  all  that  is 
required.  Where  the  modern  teacher  so  far  fails 
is  that  he  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  clothing  the 

D 


5o  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

old  truths  in  the  new  guise  which  he  sometimes 
says  he  has  adopted.  He  has  not  yet  been  able 
to  satisfy  the  modern  mind  on  these  topics 
as  his  predecessors  did  our  forefathers.  The 
preacher  or  teacher  who  can  do  this  will  promptly 
find  himself  with  an  earnest  following  of  all  the 
best  minds  within  his  sphere,  and  he  is  badly 
needed.  The  nearest  approach  to  him  was  made 
by  the  late  beloved  Henry  Drummond,  whose 
methods  of  religious  teaching  appealed  to  thou- 
sands of  educated  minds  which  were  at  that 
time  absolutely  untouched  by  any  other  religious 
teacher.  The  really  extraordinary  thing  about 
Drummond's  work  was  the  number  of  intelligent 
men  whom  he  was  able  to  deeply  interest  where 
others  failed  entirely.  To  the  present  writer, 
who  knew  him  well,  it  has  always  seemed  that 
Drummond's  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  lives,  and 
that  his  teaching  foreshadowed  the  possibility 
of  a  Scientific  Christianity.  Underlying  it  all 
was  the  great  truth,  which  is  felt  by  so  many 
to-day,  namely,  that  the  spiritual  world  must 
inevitably  be  a  matter  of  natural  law,  and  that, 
therefore,  what  we  term  spiritual  experience 
must  be  governed  by  the  laws  which  rule  the 
rest  of  the  universe,  including  man's  mind. 

The  position  which  we  are  about  to  develop, 
however,  goes  somewhat  further  than  this,  in- 
asmuch as  it  endeavours  to  show  that  the  laws 
in  accordance  with  which  religious  phenomena 
takes  place  are  the  same  laws  which  are  found  to 


THE  PROBLEM  51 

apply  to  other  parts  of  man.  Not  analogous 
laws — be  it  noted — but  identical  laws.  An 
analogy  is  an  apparent  likeness  between  things 
which  are  essentially  different,  a  likeness  between 
things  in  some  circumstances  or  effects  when  the 
things  themselves  are  otherwise  entirely  distinct. 
Analogy  is  sometimes  confused  with  similarity, 
a  serious  error  against  which  we  must  be  carefully 
on  our  guard.  Similarity  denotes  general  re- 
semblance ;  analogy  implies  general  difference. 
Analogy,  therefore,  is  useful  in  argument  only  for 
the  purpose  of  illustration.  It  should  be  never 
used  as  an  actual  explanation  except  in  the  same 
way  as  an  illustration  explains.  Analogy  can 
never  be  actual  proof,  but  it  is  true  that  it  may 
possibly  be  the  only  kind  of  proof  available.  In 
such  a  case  the  most  that  can  be  demonstrated 
is  probability.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
use  of  analogy  has  been  adopted  by  all  the  great 
ethical  teachers  of  the  world.  Christ  himself 
frequently  used  analogies  to  explain  his  words. 
In  Drummond's  writings  analogies  occur  fre- 
quently, as  they  did  in  his  spoken  addresses.  But 
in  matters  requiring  scientific  proof  it  is  well 
recognised,  and  must  ever  be  remembered,  that 
an  argument  based  entirely  upon  an  analogy  can 
never  be  really  satisfactory,  because  reason  of  this 
kind  is  apt  to  lead  into  very  great  error.  Thus, 
if  the  zoologist  were  to  argue  from  analogy  in 
framing  a  classification  of  animals,  we  should 
find  him  placing  whales  in  the  same  category  as 


52  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

fish  ;  since  the  gills  of  fishes  are  analogous  to  the 
lungs  of  mammals  ;  and  in  the  same  way  he  would 
regard  a  bat  as  a  bird,  since  the  wings  of  both  are 
analogous.  Both  these  conclusions  would  be 
wrong  ;  and  therefore  analogy  is  misleading  when 
utilised  as  proof.  Bats  are  mammals,  as  are 
whales.  In  no  sphere  of  argument  is  this  caution 
more  necessary  and  important  than  in  ethical 
and  religious  matters. 

Our  effort,  then,  in  the  following  pages  will  be  to 
endeavour  in  the  first  place  to  come  to  some  kind 
of  understanding  as  to  the  various  component 
parts  which  make  up  the  nature  of  a  human  being, 
and  amongst  them  we  shall  include  that  which  is 
commonly  termed  his  spiritual  nature.  We  shall 
endeavour,  as  far  as  possible  in  the  space  at  our 
disposal,  to  inquire  into  the  origin  and  source  of 
his  many  and  varied  characteristics,  and  then  shall 
proceed  to  try  and  discover  upon  what  general 
principles  these  are  developed  so  as  to  make  a 
human  personality.  Should  we  find  as  the  result 
of  our  investigation  nothing  which  points  to  any 
uniform  principle  in  operation,  it  will  then 
obviously  be  impossible  to  explain  our  problem. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  our  search  reveals  to  us  the 
existence  of  laws  whose  operation  in  some  parts 
of  man's  nature  are  well  known,  and  the  working 
of  which  is  in  part  understood,  it  may  be  possible 
to  apply  these  same  identical  laws  to  still  other 
parts  of  that  nature,  in  the  hope  that  such  applica- 
tion may  assist  in  the  solution  desired. 


THE  PROBLEM  53 

We  start  frankly  from  the  standpoint  of  re- 
garding the  spiritual  world  as  something  which 
undeniably  exists,  and  which  is  within,  and  not 
outside,  natural  law.  No  other  standpoint  is 
conceivable  to  the  mind  which  has  been  pro- 
duced upon  the  lines  which  we  have  indicated, 
and  no  other  standpoint  therefore  falls  within 
the  scope  of  our  discussion.  The  mental  attitude 
of  to-day  is  that  religious  phenomena  are  not 
essentially  different  from  other  mental  processes, 
nor  even  unassociated  with  physical  conditions  ; 
hence  they  should  be  capable  of  some  sort  of 
explanation.  Those  who  regard  the  spiritual 
life  as  something  absolutely  distinct  from  man's 
humanity  are  not  interested  in  the  problem, 
nor  will  they  be  interested  in  its  discussion. 
Those  who  regard  the  spiritual  life  as  falling 
within  the  natural  sphere  can  conceive  of  no 
divinity  except  such  as  is  possible  for  humanity. 

The  yearning  for  some  explanation  of  these 
matters  is  but  an  echo  of  the  universal  cry  for 
greater  knowledge  and  wider  aspects  of  truth 
in  every  possible  department  of  life.  It  is  only 
the  more  ignorant  of  our  population  that  can  now 
be  dealt  with  by  mere  authority.  The  day  of 
blind  acceptance — even  of  truths — is  fast  depart- 
ing, and  to  the  geat  majority  of  men  the  appeal 
must  come  from  the  standpoint  of  reason  and 
intellect ;  and  hence  it  is  that  any  religious 
movement  which  has  nothing  to  offer  but  dogma 
and  unexplained  phenomena,  no  matter  how  true 


54  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

the  dogma  or  how  obvious  the  phenomena,  will 
appeal  only  to  the  untrained  mind  or  to  the 
intensely  emotional  nature.  Such  a  religious 
system  can  only  retain  its  hold  either  by  keeping 
its  adherents  ignorant,  or  by  forbidding  them  to 
apply  their  intellects  to  its  teaching.  For  good 
or  ill  teaching  by  authority  has  had  its  day  and 
the  religion  of  the  future,  if  it  is  to  be  an  effective 
and  living  power  amongst  men,  must,  we  are 
convinced,  present  itself  to  the  mass  of  mankind 
in  the  form  of  a  Scientific  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN 

THE  characteristics  which  go  to  the  making  up  of 
any  one  individual  are  many  and  varied,  and  the 
sum  total  of  them  constitutes  his  or  her  individu- 
ality. Judged  by  any  given  standard  of  physical, 
intellectual,  or  ethical  value,  individuals  are 
found  to  vary  immensely.  There  are  good,  bad, 
and  indifferent  specimens  in  each  category ; 
but  whatever  be  the  result  in  any  individual 
case,  it  is  obviously  the  effect  of  all  the  forces  or 
influences  which  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
his  particular  capacities.  An  individual  is  the 
resultant  of  the  play  upon  one  man's-worth  of 
human  material  of  all  the  forces  which  have 
acted,  or  are  acting,  upon  that  kind  and 
amount  of  material.  All  individuals  of  the  same 
species  have  certain  traits  in  common,  but  no 
two  are  exactly  alike  in  all  respects,  even 
though  they  are  placed  under  apparently 
similar  surroundings  ;  and  hence  it  follows  that 
no  one  person  is  quite  like  any  other  in 
capacity  of  development.  No  two  children 
born  of  the  same  parents  are  exactly  alike 


56  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

in  all  characteristics.1  Even  if  they  be  ex- 
tremely alike  at  their  birth,  they  very  soon 
begin  to  exhibit  differences  in  various  directions 
as  growth  ensues.  And  if  this  be  true  of  their  so- 
called  physical  features,  it  is  still  more  obviously 
true  of  their  mental  characteristics.2  Most  of 
all,  perhaps,  will  they  be  found  to  differ  in  what 
we  designate  '  spiritual '  things. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  underlying  any  ex- 
planation of  the  Problem  must  be  the  question 
of  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  material  which 
is  available  for  the  making  of  a  character.  In 
other  words,  we  must  ask  first  of  all  another 
question,  namely ,What  are  the  elements  concerned 
in  the  Making  of  a  Man  ?  That  having  been 
made  clear,  but  not  until  then,  we  may  proceed  to 
the  next  step,  namely,  the  endeavour  to  ascertain 
which  of  these  elements  are  concerned  in  that 
particular  portion  of  a  man  which  enters  into  the 
Problem  under  consideration.  Finally,  only  then 
shall  we  be  in  a  position  to  attempt  any  explana- 
tions of  the  processes  at  work. 

We  therefore  find  ourselves  confronted  with 
the  necessity  of  some  little  physiological  and 
biological  study  which,  if  we  are  to  gain  any  real 

»  The  case  of  identical  twins  need  not  be  considered  here, 
it  does  not  affect  our  present  argument. 

1  The  terms  '  physical,'  '  mental,'  '  spiritual '  are  here  used 
in  their  ordinary  colloquial  sense.  It  must  not,  however, 
be  assumed  that  any  of  them  are  other  than  physical  in  any 
exact  scientific  sense. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  57 

appreciation  of  this  subject  at  all,  must  not 
be  shirked.  As  we  go  on,  it  will  become 
more  and  more  evident  that  we  are  engaged 
upon  a  biological  task,  and  we  shall  in  all  pro- 
bability arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  herein 
lies  the  explanation  of  the  failure  of  modern 
religious  methods.  The  Churches  have  not 
yet  realised  that  their  problem  is  a  biological 
one.  In  our  discussion  we  shall  endeavour 
to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  the  use  of  technical 
scientific  terms,  and  where  these  are  abso- 
lutely unavoidable  we  shall  explain  clearly  the 
sense  in  which  they  are  here  used.  But  the 
foundations  must  be  laid,  and  laid  firmly,  before 
there  is  any  attempt  to  build  a  superstructure, 
and  only  those  who  understand  the  laying  of 
the  foundations  are  in  a  position  to  judge  of  the 
security  of  the  building.  Most  of  the  facts  to 
be  stated  will  doubtless  be  perfectly  familiar  to 
many,  but  they  must  be  stated  in  their  order,  so 
that  we  may  proceed  step  by  step.  We  shall 
omit  all  unnecessary  detail,  and  introduce  nothing 
but  the  essential  points.  Those  points,  however, 
must  be  mastered  in  order  to  understand  what 
follows,  and  we  may  therefore  at  once  turn  our 
attention  to  grasping  a  brief  outline  of  the  physio- 
logy of  the  making  of  a  man. 

It  will  perhaps  be  all  the  better  if  we  take  these 
facts  from  an  outside  source,  so  that  there  may 
be  no  question  of  their  accuracy,  and  no  suspicion 
of  their  having  been  put  together  in  this  form 


58  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

for  any  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  present  writer. 
To  this  end  we  quote  the  following  paragraphs 
from  a  recent  work  by  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
of  modern  scientific  writers  and  thinkers,  and 
again  beg  our  readers  to  give  them  thorough 
attention  l : — 

"  The  material  basis  of  all  known  life  is  the  cell. 
The  cell  is  a  mass,  usually  very  minute,  of  a  jelly- 
like  substance  known  as  protoplasm.  The  lowest 
plants  and  animals  are  single  cells.  Higher 
living  beings  are  compounded  of  two  or  more — 
it  may  be  billions  of — cells,  most  of  which  are 
adherent  together.  Cells  multiply  by  self-division, 
the  mother-cell  distributing  itself  between  the 
daughter-cells.  The  daughter-cells  in  the  cases 
of  unicellular  organisms  separate,  but  in  higher 
types  remain  together. 

"  A  man,  then,  for  example,  is  an  organised 
colony  or  community,  a  family,  a  tribe,  or  race 
of  cells,  all  of  which  have  descended  from  a 
common  cell-ancestor,  the  fertilised  ovum  or 

egg- 

"  Speaking  in  general  terms,  the  descendants 
of  a  unicellular  organism  closely  resemble  their 
ancestor  ;  each  individual  cell  is  able  to  continue 
the  species  by  self-division,  and  each  performs  all 
the  functions  necessary  to  existence,  such  as  the 
procuring  of  food. 

"  But  the  descendants  of  the  fertilised  ovum, 

1 '  The  Principles  of)  Heredity,'  by  Dr  Archdall  Reid. 
London  :  Chapman  &  Hall. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  59 

though  they  remain  together,  indeed  because 
they  remain  together,  break  up  into  many  types. 
Thus  in  a  man  there  are  skin-cells,  bone-cells, 
nerve-cells,  various  kinds  of  gland-cells,  and  others. 

"  The  members  of  the  community  are  specialised 
in  form  and  function.  Each  performs  some  par- 
ticular duty.  None  are  fitted  to  perform  all  the 
functions  of  life,  and  none  therefore  can  main- 
tain a  separate  existence.  Thus  a  skin-cell  or  a 
muscle-cell  parted  from  the  rest  of  the  community 
quickly  perishes.  Even  the  duty  of  continuing 
the  race  is  delegated  to  a  particular  set  of  cells,  the 
germ-cells,  which  do  not  otherwise  share  in  the 
labours  of  the  community. 

"  Germ-cells  derived  from  a  female  body  (e.g. 
a  woman)  are  termed  ova ;  whereas  those  derived 
from  a  male  body  are  termed  sperms.  They 
are  not  male  and  female  ;  only  the  bodies,  the 
cell-communities,  in  which  they  lie,  are  male  and 
female. 

"  The  process  of  fertilisation  takes  place  when 
a  sperm  from  a  male  body  unites  with  an  ovum 
from  a  female  body.  The  single  cell  thus  formed 
is  termed  the  fertilised  ovum.  The  fertilised  ovum, 
dividing  and  redividing  many  times,  builds  up 
by  means  of  its  descendants  thus  arising  a  new 
cell-community,  a  new  '  organism,'  a  new  body, 
a  new  '  individual,'  a  human  being  for  instance. 

"  The  multicellular  individual,  then,  consists 
of  various  kinds  of  cells  which  perform  different 
functions,  each  kind  its  own  special  function. 


60  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Some  of  these  cells  are  germ-cells  ;  the  rest  are 
body-cells  or  '  somatic  cells/  The  latter,  which 
are  usually  much  the  more  numerous,  provide 
the  former  with  shelter  and  nutrition,  but  these 
body-cells  in  the  highest  animals  never  give  rise 
to  germ-cells.  These  are  produced  only  from 
pre-existent  germ-cells,  each  generation  being 
thus  directly  continuous  with  the  one  preceding  it. 
In  fact,  when  the  fertilised  ovum  begins  to 
divide  into  daughter-cells,  the  first  descendants 
are  the  germ-cells  of  the  new  individual  which 
has  yet  to  be  formed.  This  individual  is 
formed  by  one,  and  one  only,  of  these  first- 
formed  germ-cells — the  rest  of  the  germ-cells 
being  stored  in  the  body  as  it  grows,  or  giving 
rise  to  structures  with  which  we  are  not  here 
concerned." 

This  conception  of  the  '  continuity  of  the  germ- 
plasm  '  is  of  quite  recent  origin,  depending  as  it 
does  upon  modern  embryological  research.  It 
lies  at  the  very  basis  of  the  science  of  heredity. 
In  fact,  heredity  is  nothing  more  than  the  relation- 
ship which  exists  between  successive  generations. 
The  idea  is  a  fundamental  one  in  any  attempt  to 
understand  the  formation  of  character;  and  in 
order  to  make  it  as  clear  as  possible,  we  may 
state  the  facts  in  the  form  of  a  diagram, 
which  will  probably  enable  the  reader  to  grasp 
this  conception  more  readily.  Thus : — 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN 


61 


Sperm 

« 


Unite  in  the  process  of 
fertilisation  to  form  the 
fertilised  ovum,  which 


divides  a  given  number  of 
/  times  and  forms  daughter- 
/.   cells,  which  are  germ-cells ; 

/   ///////,//  // 

*       ***4MHHHHHH 


one  of  which,  and 
one  only,  goes  on 
dividing  to  form  the 
body-cells,  and  so 
produces  the  new 
individual,  which  as 
it  grows  includes 
in  itself  those  cells 
(germ  -  cells)  previ- 
ously formed. 


MHMHMHHHHKI 

the  rest  are  germ-cells,  which  sub- 
sequently form  the  eggs  and 
sperms  of  the  new  individual, 
i.e.  they  are  the  germ-cells  of 
the  next  generation.  They  can- 
not develop  independently,  but 
when  they  unite  with  the  egg  or 
sperm  of  another  individual,  a 
new  fertilised  ovum  is  formed 
and  the  cycle  begins  again. 
Egg  Sperm 


Unite,  etc.,  as  above. 


62  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

To  resume  Dr  Archdall  Reid's  account : — 
"  In  each  sperm  and  ovum  is  a  minute  dot, 
the  nucleus.  The  essential  feature  of  the  union  of 
sperm  and  ovum  is  now  believed  to  be  the  union, 
the  intimate  mixture,  of  their  nuclei,  so  that  the 
two  nuclei  become  one.  Under  very  high  powers 
of  the  microscope  there  may  be  seen  within  the 
nucleus  specks  and  threads  of  a  substance  known 
as  chromatin.  When  the  fertilised  ovum  and  its 
descendent  cells  divide  into  daughter-cells,  the 
chromatin,  which  grows  with  the  cells,  displays 
remarkable  movements,  and  is  distributed  appar- 
ently with  great  quantitative  equality  between 
the  daughters.  Now,  this  chromatin,  contained 
in  the  germ-cells,  is  believed,  with  good  reason,  to 
be  '  the  germ-plasm,'  '  the  bearer  of  heredity,' 
the  substance  which  contains  the  hereditary 
tendencies,  and  which  therefore  determines  the 
kind  of  individuals  that  shall  arise  from  the  germ- 
cells.  A  man  differs  greatly  from  an  elephant 
because  the  germ-plasms  of  the  two  species  are 
very  different.  He  differs  yet  more  from  a  plant 
because  the  germ-plasms  are  yet  more  different. 
One  man  resembles  another  because  all  human 
germ-plasm  is  much  alike,  but  every  man  differs 
from  every  other  because  the  germ-plasm  con- 
tained in  no  two  germ-cells  is  exactly  similar. 
One  very  important  point  should  be  noted ; 
since  the  offspring  of  the  same  parents  invariably 
differ  more  or  less  amongst  themselves,  it  follows 
that,  though  the  quantitative  division  of  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  63 

chromatin  is  apparently  exact,  the  qualitative 
division  cannot  be  seen.  The  daughter-cells  may 
receive  similar  quantities,  but  they  do  not  receive 
exactly  similar  kinds  of  germ-plasm. 

"  The  whole  of  the  child,  therefore,  is  derived 
from  a  single  cell,  the  fertilised  ovum,  which  in 
turn  was  derived  wholly  from  two  germ-cells, 
one  from  each  parent,  and  these  again  were 
derived  by  single  lines  of  descent  from  the  fertilised 
ovum  whence  the  parent  sprang.  Never  between 
fertilised  ovum  and  fertilised  ovum  is  there  any 
conjugation.  The  other  cells  of  the  parent,  there- 
fore, as  far  as  we  know,  contribute  no  living  elements 
to  the  child,  they  merely  provide  temporary  shelter 
and  nutrition.  The  child  does  not  resemble  his 
parents  because  his  several  parts  are  derived  from 
similar  parts  of  the  parents,  his  head  from  his 
parents'  head,  his  hand  from  his  parents'  hands, 
and  so  forth  :  he  resembles  them  only  because  the 
germ-plasm  which  directed  his  development  is  a 
split-off  portion  of  the  germ-plasm  which  directed 
the  development  of  the  parent." 

Such  traits,  therefore,  as  are  carried  by  the 
germ-plasm  are  inherited  from  one  generation  to 
another,  and  are  utterly  independent  of  the  nature 
of  the  body  cells  of  the  parent. 

"  The  germ-cells  are,  in  a  real  sense,  immortal. 
Saving  accidents,  they  divide  and  divide  again 
perpetually,  and  there  is  no  dead  body.  In  like 
manner  the  germ-plasm  is  potentially  immortal 
It  grows  and  separates,  but  does  not  die  unless 


64  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

killed  or  starved.  Each  fertilised  ovum  builds 
with  mortal  cells  a  temporary  dwelling,  the  body, 
around  its  potentially  immortal  descendants,  the 
germ-cells,  which  hand  on  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions their  all-important  trust,  the  germ-plasm. 
Thus  there  is  '  continuity  of  the  germ-plasm.' " 

As  before  stated,  it  is  this  continuity  of  actual 
matter,  germ-plasm,  which  alone  makes  possible 
the  phenomenon  of  heredity. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  line  of  ancestry  and 
heredity  is  through  the  germ-cells  alone,  and  never 
through  the  embryo  or  individual.  The  latter 
never  produces  germ-cells  ;  they  arise  from  former 
germ-cells  ;  the  individual  merely  preserves  and 
nourishes  them  until  once  more  required  to  form 
the  next  generation.  It  is  now  easy  to  understand 
why  the  main  characters  of  a  race,  or  the  traits 
of  a  family,  appear  very  much  alike.  They  come 
from  the  same  actual  matter,  a  common  germ- 
plasm.  The  individual  really  inherits  nothing 
from  his  parents  ;  he  merely  receives  in  his  turn 
the  heritage  which  was  theirs  as  well.  To  many 
this  will  be  a  new  thought ;  it  was  new  to  science 
itself  only  a  few  years  ago.  But  it  is  funda- 
mental. No  true  conception  of  the  possibilities  of 
character  can  be  formed  until  this  idea  is  firmly 
grasped.1 

From  this  brief  physiological  study  we  are  able 

1  The  author  would  appeal  to  his  readers  to  make  them- 
selves perfectly  familiar  with  the  facts  stated  above  before 
reading  the  further  argument. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  65 

to  deduce  our  first  conclusion  as  to  the  making 
of  a  man,  which  may  be  stated  as  follows : — 

(i)  Man  is  composed  partly  of  characteristics, 
which  are  derived  from  pre-existing  germ-cells, 
and  over  the  possession  of  which  he  has  no 
control  whatsoever.  Be  they  good,  bad,  or 
indifferent,  these  characteristics  are  his  from 
his  ancestry  in  virtue  of  his  inheritance.  The 
possession  of  these  characteristics  is  to  him 
a  matter  of  neither  blame  nor  praise,  but  of 
necessity.  They  are  inevitable. 

The  individual,  then,  starts  his  life  with  a  certain 
number  of  inborn,  or  innate,  or  germinal  char- 
acteristics, and  no  more.  Most  of  these  are  in 
the  form  of  tendencies.  Some  are  actually  de- 
veloped by  the  time  of  birth,  but  what  he  has 
received  chiefly  in  virtue  of  his  inheritance  are  a 
number  of  tendencies  which  will  later  manifest 
their  presence  by  his  growth  in  various  directions. 
It  is  upon  this  basis  that  he  has  to  develop  him- 
self, and  upon  no  other.  These  inherited  tenden- 
cies represent  the  sum  total  of  his  potentialities. 
Nothing  of  a  new  nature  can  be  added  to  them. 
All  that  he  can  do,  or  that  can  be  done  for  him,  is 
so  to  act  upon  these  tendencies  or  potentialities 
as  to  develop  the  good  to  the  best,  and  eliminate 
the  bad  if  possible.  It  is  under  the  constant 
direction  of  these  tendencies  that  the  community 
of  body-cells  gradually  takes  shape  as  an  in- 
dividual, a  personality.  The  most  that  any 
system  of  training,  of  education,  of  politics,  of 


66  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

religion,  can  do  for  them  is  the  giving  or  with- 
holding of  opportunity  to  develop.  Once  that 
fact  be  thoroughly  grasped,  an  immense  flood 
of  light  is  thrown  upon  the  whole  question. 

Three  main  factors  acting  from  the  external 
world  awaken  all  these  tendencies  into  activity 
and  cause  them  to  develop.  These  three  factors 
are  : — 

(a)  Nourishment  or  food. 

(b)  Use  or  exercise. 

(c)  Injury. 

Thus,  in  the  case  of  the  human  being,  we  see 
that  up  to  the  time  of  birth  the  first  factor, 
nourishment,  predominates  practically  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  others.  The  mere  supply  of 
an  adequate  quantity  and  quality  of  food  is  a 
sufficient  stimulus  to  the  tendencies  in  the  body- 
cells  to  cause  them  to  develop  into  skin,  bone, 
blood,  nerve,  gland,  and  so  forth.  The  embryo 
grows  simply  under  the  stimulus  of  nourishment 
supplied. 

"  Subsequently  some  of  his  structures  develop 
under  this  stimulus;  for  example,  his  hair,  his 
teeth,  his  external  ears,  and  his  organs  of  repro- 
duction. But  as  regards  others  of  his  structures, 
though  nourishment  continues  to  supply  the 
materials  for  growth,  it  ceases  to  supply  the 
stimulus.  Thus,  no  matter  how  well  the  child  is 
fed,  the  muscles  of  his  limbs  do  not  develop  unless 
they  are  used.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  struc- 
tures— and  those  structures  only — which  grow 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  67 

under  the  influence  of  use  tend  to  atrophy  under 
the  influence  of  disuse." 

"  If  the  individual  be  injured  as  by  a  cut,  the 
wound  supplies  the  stimulus  for  the  growth 
which  occurs  during  the  process  of  healing," 
resulting  in  the  formation  of  a  scar.  It  is  quite 
unnecessary  to  multiply  examples  of  these  laws  ; 
they  are  exactly  the  same  for  all  parts  of  a  human 
being,  and  apply  equally  to  the  brain  as  to  a 
muscle,  a  mental  scar  as  well  as  a  muscular  scar. 

We  see  now  how  it  is  that  members  of  the 
same  family  and  ancestry  come  to  vary  so  much 
as  individuals.  One  part  of  the  explanation  at 
least  is  apparent.  Starting  with  the  same  potenti- 
alities, they  receive  different  kinds  and  amounts 
of  stimuli,  under  the  influence  of  which  they 
develop  in  different  directions  and  in  varying 
degrees  ;  and  thus  we  arrive  at  a  second  conclu- 
sion as  to  the  making  of  a  man,  which  may  be 
stated  thus  : — 

(2)  Certain  characteristics  are  acquired  by 
each  individual  for  himself  in  response  to  par- 
ticular forces  or  stimuli  acting  from  without. 

The  first  group  of  characteristics — the  inborn 
ones — develop  in  response  to  the  stimulus  of 
nourishment  alone  ;  the  second  group  of  char- 
acteristics— the  acquired  ones — develop  only  when 
to  the  stimulus  of  nourishment  there  is  added  that 
of  use  or  injury,  or  both. 

There  is  still  another  group  of  characteristics, 
a  group  which,  strictly  speaking,  is  included  in 


68  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

the  first,  the  innate  characters,  but  which  it  is 
convenient  for  purposes  of  analysis  and  descrip- 
tion to  regard  separately.  They  are  germinal 
in  origin,  but  not  inherited  nor  ancestral.  These 
are  the  characteristics  which  arise  in  an  individual 
for  the  first  time  in  his  line  or  family.  They  take 
their  origin  in  the  germ-cell  from  which  he  was 
developed,  but  they  were  not  inherited  ;  they  are 
something  new,  something  appearing  now  for 
the  first  time.  Such  new  traits  are  termed 
'  Variations,'  and  it  is  by  means  of  these  that 
evolution  is  possible.  What  causes  germ-plasm 
to  give  rise  to  new  variations  is  a  much-debated 
question  which  need  not  be  discussed  here ; 
it  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  recognise  this 
third  group  of  characters.  Thus,  if  an  individual 
born  of  perfectly  normal  average  parents  develops 
six  fingers  instead  of  five,  or  a  marked  tendency 
to  proficiency  in  mathematics,  or  an  extraordinary 
faculty  of  memory,  or  a  special  power  of  resisting 
infection  or  temptation,  these  tendencies  appear- 
ing for  the  first  time  in  his  family,  and  innately, 
they  are  termed  variations.  In  so  far  as  these 
tendencies  are  germinal  in  origin,  they  may  be 
handed  on  to  the  next  generation  by  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  germ-plasm.  They  arise  as  varia- 
tions, and  are  thenceforth  inherited.  They  may, 
of  course,  be  advantageous  or  otherwise  in  their 
nature. 

Thus  we  arrive  at  a  third  conclusion  as  to  the 
making  of  a  man,  namely  :— 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  69 

(3)  There  may  be  certain  characteristics 
appearing  for  the  first  time  in  that  individual, 
not  inherited  but  taking  their  origin  in  the 
germ-cell,  such  characteristics  being  termed 
Variations. 

The  origin  of  all  the  various  traits,  character- 
istics, features,  tendencies,  qualities,  of  whatever 
kind — mental,  moral,  or  physical — which  go  to 
the  making  of  a  man,  may  therefore  be  sum- 
marised thus : — 

A.  Inborn  Characters 

a.  Inherited    (growing    under 
the  stimulus  of  nutriment). 


A  MAN  is 

MADE  UP  OF 


b.  Variations. 
B.  Acquired  Characters,  obtained 


a.  By  nutrition. 

b.  By  use. 

c.  By  injury. 

The  varying  proportions  of  these  characters 
account  for  the  differences  in  individuals,  and 
the  actual  nature  of  them  constitutes  the  whole 
of  the  possibilities  for  any  one  man. 

Let  the  reader  now  put  down  this  book  and 
think  for  a  few  moments.  Let  him  take  a  mental 
review  of  all  the  different  characteristics  which 
go  to  the  formation  of  any  personality  with  which 
he  may  be  sufficiently  familiar — himself,  for 
example.  If  he  will  take  a  pencil  and  a  sheet  of 
paper  and  rule  the  latter  into  three  columns, 
headed  respectively  '  Inherited/  '  Acquired/  and 


70  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

'  Variations,'  he  will  find  that  each  character- 
istic as  it  presents  itself  to  his  mind  can  be  placed 
in  one  or  other  of  these  columns.  The  better 
he  has  understood  the  preceding  pages  the  more 
accurate  will  his  arrangement  be.  There  may  be 
some  little  difficulty  in  deciding  into  which  column 
certain  traits  should  be  put,  but  that  they  come 
under  one  or  other  heading  is  perfectly  obvious. 
It  is  a  simple  way  of  illustrating  an  analysis  of  a 
character,  and  it  will  be  found  absolutely  im- 
possible to  think  of  any  known  characteristic 
which  does  not  fall  into  one  or  other  of  these 
three  categories. 

In  order  to  make  this  perfectly  clear,  we  may 
ourselves  select  a  description  of  an  individual, 
a  description  not  drawn  up  for  any  such  analysis 
at  ajl,  but  simply  to  represent  as  perfectly  as 
possible  the  whole  man.  We  may  then  make  our 
own  analysis  on  the  lines  suggested,  and  observe 
how  far  it  conforms  to  the  conclusions  already 
reached.  Any  biographical  sketch  by  a  literary 
hand  would  serve  the  purpose.  We  may  take, 
for  example,  the  following  extracts  from  a 
well-known  biography  of  Alexander  Pope  the 
poet.1 

"  The  father  of  Alexander  Pope  was  a  London 
merchant,  a  devout  Catholic,  and  not  improbably 
a  convert  to  Catholicism.  ...  In  after  life  the 
poet  made  some  progress  in  acquiring  the  art  of 

1  From  Leslie  Stephen's  '  English  Men  of  Letters.'  Edited 
by  John  Morley. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  71 

painting,  .  .  .  the  precocious  child  had  already 
given  some  indications  of  artistic  taste.  .  .  . 
But  he  was  the  only  child  of  his  mother,  and 
his  parents  concentrated  upon  him  an  affection 
which  he  returned  with  touching  ardour  and  per- 
sistence. ...  He  inherited  headaches  from  his 
mother,  and  a  crooked  figure  from  his  father. 
The  family  tradition  represents  him  as  a  sweet- 
tempered  child,  and  says  that  he  was  called  the 
'  little  nightingale  '  from  the  beauty  of  his  voice. 
As  the  sickly,  solitary,  and  precocious  infant  of 
elderly  parents,  we  may  guess  that  he  was  not  a 
little  spoilt,  if  only  in  the  technical  sense.  .  .  . 
Pope's  character  was  affected  in  many  ways  by 
the  fact  of  his  belonging  to  a  sect  thus  harassed 
and  restrained.  .  .  .  Pope  learnt  to  love  toleration, 
he  was  not  untouched  by  the  more  demoralising 
influences  of  a  life  passed  in  an  atmosphere  of 
incessant  plotting  and  evasion.  .  .  .  The  spirit 
of  the  rickety  lad  might  have  been  broken  by  the 
rough  training  of  Eton  or  Westminster  in  those 
days  ;  as,  on  the  other  hand,  he  might  have  pro- 
fited by  acquiring  a  livelier  perception  of  that 
virtue  of  fair-play.  ...  As  it  was,  Pope  was 
condemned  to  a  desultory  education.  He  picked 
up  some  rudiments  of  learning  from  the  family 
priest.  .  .  .  Like  other  lads  of  genius.  ...  He  read 
so  eagerly  that  his  feeble  constitution  threatened 
to  break  down.  .  .  .  He  learnt  languages  .  .  .  ac- 
quired a  wide  knowledge  of  English  poetry.  .  .  . 
Pope's  ambition  was  directed  into  the  same  channel 


72  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

by  his  innate  propensities,  and  by  the  accidents 
of  his  position.  .  .  .  The  sickly  son  of  the  Popish 
tradesman.  .  .  .  Physically  contemptible,  politi- 
cally ostracised.  .  .  .  Singular  triumph  of  pure 
intellect  over  external  disadvantages,  and  the  still 
more  depressing  influences  of  incessant  physical 
suffering.  .  .  .  His  religion  helped  him  to  emerge 
into  fame.  .  .  .  Seems  to  have  paid  to  religious 
duties  just  as  much  attention  as  would  satisfy  his 
parents.  .  .  .  We  might  speak  of  the  absurd 
affectation  displayed  in  the  letters,  were  it  not 
that  such  affectation  is  the  most  genuine  nature 
in  a  clever  boy.  .  .  .  He  was  forced  to  be  grave 
and  godly,  instead  of  drunk  and  scandalous.  .  .  . 
Pope  could  be  at  times  grossly  indecent  .  .  .  some 
of  his  writings  are  stained  by  pruriency  and 
downright  obscenity.  .  .  .  Pope  had  become  too 
conscious  of  his  own  importance  .  .  .  was  weak 
and  insincere  enough  .  .  .  claims  the  virtue  of 
propriety  .  .  .  acquiring  the  peculiar  qualities 
of  style  .  .  .  skill  in  polishing  these  rather  rusty 
sayings  .  .  .  showed  the  power  of  coining  aphor- 
isms .  .  .  phrases  which  are  not  only  elliptical, 
but  slovenly,  a.  blemish.  .  .  .  His  feelings  make  him 
eloquent.  .  .  .  There  is  a  taint  of  something 
unwholesome  and  effeminate.  .  .  .  An  intensely 
sensitive  nature.  .  .  .  Pope's  irritable  vanity  .  .  . 
morbidly  sensitive  to  all  attacks,  and  especially 
to  attacks  upon  his  person.  The  hatred  thus 
kindled  was  never  quenched.  .  .  .  Pope  was 
jealous,  spiteful,  and  credulous.  .  .  .  Pope's 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  73 

suspicions  are  a  proof  that  in  this  case  he  was 
almost  subject  to  the  illusion  characteristic  of 
actual  insanity.  .  .  .  Pope  would  seem  to  have 
been  almost  in  the  initial  stage  of  mental  disease 
....  a  state  of  mind  so  morbid.  .  .  .  The 
audacity  which  could  lead  a  man  so  ill  qualified 
in  point  of  classical  acquirements.  .  .  .  Pope  was 
too  sickly  and  too  serious  to  indulge  long  in  youth- 
ful fopperies.  .  .  .  He  had  no  fund  of  high 
spirits.  .  .  .  Pope's  constitutional  irritability. 
A  man  of  such  brilliant  wit.  .  .  .  His  unsocial 
habits.  .  .  .  Ill-health.  ...  He  was  so  weak 
as  to  be  unable  to  rise  to  dress  himself  ...  so 
sensitive  to  cold,  one  of  his  sides  was  contracted 
...  his  legs  were  so  slender  .  .  .  long  legs 
and  arms.  .  .  .  His  face  was  not  displeasing  .  .  . 
the  thin,  drawn  features  wear  the  expression  of 
habitual  pain  .  .  .  the  vivid  and  penetrating 
eye.  ...  A  gallant  spirit  which  got  so  much  work 
out  of  this  carcase,  and  kept  it  going,  in  spite  of 
all  its  feebleness,  for  fifty-six  years.  ...  A  kind 
master  .  .  .  generally  abstemious  .  .  .  the  suffer- 
ing in  a  great  part  was  foolish  self-torture  .  .  . 
the  victim  of  moral  as  well  as  physical  diseases." 

In  the  foregoing  extracts  there  are  mentioned 
a  large  number  of  characteristics,  which  we  have 
italicised ;  and  if  these  be  analysed  in  the  manner 
suggested,  we  get  a  result  somewhat  of  the  follow- 
ing nature : — 


74  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

ANALYSIS  OF  THE  TRAITS  OF  ALEXANDER  POPE 


INBORN  CHARACTERS 
(including  variations). 


ACQUIRED  CHARACTERS. 


The  possession  of  legs,  arms, 
ribs,  face,  eyes,  larynx,  brain, 
and  other  organs  not  men- 
tioned, all  of  which  take 
their  origin  in  germ-cells. 


The  capacity  of  acquiring 
mental  attributes.  The 
special  capacity  is  a  variation. 


A  certain  quality  of  tissues 
manifested  in  constitution. 


A   number   of   tendencies, 
physical  and  moral. 


The  special  size,  shape, 
qualities,  etc.,  which  arise  in 
these  organs  in  response  to 
stimuli,  viz. : — 

Slenderness  and  length. 
Contracted  side.  Facial 
expression.  Headaches. 
Crooked  figure.  Beautiful 
voice.  Religion.  Painting. 
Artistic  taste.  Languages. 
Literature.  Sweet-temper. 
Sickness.  Irritability.  Mor- 
bidly sensitive.  Physical 
disease.  Moral  Disease. 
Effects  of  solitude  and  sect. 
Effects  of  demoralising  in- 
fluences. Ambition.  Affec- 
tation. Kindness.  Effects 
of  suffering.  Gravity.  Godli- 
ness. Indecency.  Obscenity. 
Pruriency.  Consciousness  of 
importance.  Vanity.  In- 
sincerity. Style.  Feelings. 
Eloquence.  Spite.  Credu- 
lity. Hatred.  Jealousy. 
Abstinence. 


It  is,  of  course,  obvious  that  what  are  here 
termed  acquirements  are  really  nothing  more 
than  modifications  in  one  or  other  direction  of 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  75 

inborn  traits,  chiefly  as  the  result  of  the  stimuli 
of  use  and  injury,  though  others  also  could  be 
mentioned.  Both  kinds  really  are  founded  upon 
the  nature  of  the  germ-plasm,  and  the  distinction 
is  more  one  of  convenience  than  of  actual  difference 
in  nature.  The  difference  is  chiefly  in  the  stimuli. 
The  actual  characteristics  are  none  of  them  innate  ; 
all  that  is  innate  is  the  tendency  to  develop  in 
response  to  stimuli.  So  long  as  we  understand 
clearly  what  is  implied,  there  is  no  harm  in  re- 
taining the  use  of  these  terms  which  have  long 
passed  into  current  use.  With  different  meanings 
attached  to  the  terms  '  inborn '  and  '  acquired/ 
the  tabulated  list  of  characteristics  would  vary 
accordingly.  It  may  further  be  noted  that  it  is 
frequently  difficult  to  distinguish  characteristics 
which  owe  their  growth  entirely  to  nourishment 
from  those  which  are  indebted  for  growth  partly 
to  use  or  exercise  ;  but  as  a  general  rule  it  will 
be  found  that  the  latter — the  use-acquirements — 
tend  to  atrophy,  and  disappear  if  they  be  not 
exercised.  For  this  reason  it  is  increasingly 
difficult  to  make  acquirements  in  new  directions 
with  increasing  age  ;  the  capacities  not  having 
been  exercised,  have  atrophied.  Exclusive  atten- 
tion to  one  branch  of  knowledge  is  often  accom- 
panied by  inability  to  appreciate  some  other 
branch. 

The  reader  may  easily  make  for  himself  a  further 
analysis  of  the  relation  of  the  several  character- 
istics to  their  respective  stimuli  by  rearranging 


76 


SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 


these  in  the  table  already  given  under  the  following 
headings,  thus : — 

CHARACTERISTICS  DEVELOPED  AS  THE 
RESULT  OF 


NUTRITION. 

USE  OR  DISUSE. 

INJURY. 

The  condition  of  the 

State  of  develop- 

Disease, physical 

infant  at  birth. 

ment  of  bones. 

and  moral. 

muscles,      after 

Hair,  teeth,  ears,  even 

birth. 

after  birth. 
Capacities  for  acquir- 

Artistic    taste. 
Style.     Expres- 

Spite.      Hatred, 
etc. 

ing. 

sion.     Religion. 

Etc. 

Etc. 

Etc. 

We  arrive,  then,  at  the  ultimate  conclusion  as 
to  the  Making  of  a  Man — that  all  the  character- 
istics which  it  is  possible  for  an  individual  under 
any  circumstances  to  possess  are  traceable  ulti- 
mately to  the  action  which  takes  place  between 
his  surroundings  and  his  inherited  tendencies 
or  potentialities.  There  is  no  conceivable  source 
of  origin  other  than  this.  The  surroundings, 
the  sum  total  of  which  make  up  environment, 
may  be  physical,  mental,  moral,  religious,  or  the 
opposite  of  these,  but  they  can  act  only  upon  what 
is  present  in  the  person.  Nothing  can  be  added 
except  in  the  environment.  Nothing  can  be  taken 
away,  if  there  ;  its  growth  can  only  be  encouraged 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  77 

or  retarded  by  suitable  means.  "  Education  is 
nothing  more  than  the  giving  or  withholding  of 
opportunity."  It  does  not  follow,  by  any  means, 
that  each  and  every  kind  of  trait  can  be  equally 
developed ;  indeed,  as  we  shall  see  presently, 
such  is  far  from  being  the  case  ;  but  it  does  follow 
that  it  is  perfectly  hopeless  to  expect  to  succeed 
in  making  a  silk  purse  out  of  a  sow's  ear.  The 
very  most  that  can  be  done  with  that  organ  is 
to  give  it  the  fullest  opportunity  of  so  developing 
that  it  may  perform  in  the  best  manner  possible 
the  functions  for  which  it  was  intended. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  (continued) 

WE  have  now  seen  what  possibilities  there  are  in 
the  Making  of  a  Man,  in  so  far  as  the  material 
to  be  worked  upon  is  concerned.  But  up  to  this 
point  our  results  are  all  in  the  direction  of  the 
kind  of  material  used.  Some  is  evidently  ances- 
tral, some  may  be  appearing  for  the  first  time, 
and  some  is  obviously  acquired.  So  much  •  for 
the  quality  of  it.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to 
make  not  only  a  qualitative  estimate  of  this 
material,  but  also  a  quantitative  estimate  as  far 
as  possible,  in  order  to  determine  the  proportionate 
relationship  of  the  one  to  the  other.  To  a  great 
extent  our  final  opinion  as  to  what  can  be  done 
in  the  way  of  building  up  a  character  will  depend 
upon  this  quantitative  estimate.  How  much 
is  inherited,  and  therefore  unavoidable  ?  How 
much  is  acquired,  and  therefore  within  the  reach 
of  effort  ?  These  questions  are  pressing  ;  they 
come  very  near  the  heart  of  the  matter.  Which 
of  the  groups  of  characteristics  predominate  ? 
Is  heredity  the  all-important  factor,  or  are  the 
inherited  traits  overshadowed  by  the  acquire- 
ments made  by  the  individual,  subsequently. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  79 

in  response  to  the  stimuli  of  his  environment  ? 
For  how  much  does  variation  count  ?  These 
questions  have  only  to  be  stated  in  order  that 
their  great  significance  may  be  realised,  and  they 
must  be  considered  before  we  are  in  a  position 
to  thoroughly  understand  the  formation  of 
character. 

A  reference  to  the  character-analysis  already 
made,  will  make  the  answer  to  these  questions 
partly  clear  at  once.  It  will  be  observed  that  in 
the  first  column,  under  the  heading  '  Inborn 
Characters '  (which  are  therefore  inherited  or 
variations)  come  a  number  of  characteristics 
which  are  almost  exclusively  what  are  usually 
termed  '  physical  characteristics.'  Thus,  in  this 
column  appear  such  characters  of  a  man  as  legs, 
arms,  eyes,  a  brain,  and  so  forth,  together  with 
their  inherent  and  inherited  capacity  for  acquiring 
attributes.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  second 
column  under  the  heading  '  Acquired  Characters/ 
appear  a  number  of  traits  which  are  commonly 
spoken  of  as  '  mental '  '  or  moral.'  Thus,  here 
appear  religion,  ambition,  godliness,  obscenity, 
artistic  taste,  and  so  on.  The  separation  of 
physical  and  moral  is  artificial,  but  is  in  accordance 
with  popular  language,  and  is  convenient  for 
purposes  of  description. 

It  is  at  once  obvious,  therefore,  that  it  is  to 
the  second  group  of  characteristics — the  acquired 
traits,  that  we  must  chiefly  look  for  the  results 
of  external  influences  acting  upon  an  individual, 


80  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

be  those  influences  physical,  moral,  mental,  good 
or  bad.  In  the  so-called  physical  sphere  the 
possibilities  are  extremely  limited  in  the  life-time 
of  any  one  individual.  Great  advances  in  that 
part  of  nature  are  the  result  of  the  slow  selection 
of  advantageous  variations,  either  naturally  or 
artifically.  For  any  given  individual  the  limits 
of  growth  or  improvement  in  his  physical  powers 
can  be  denned  almost  exactly.  Thus,  if  he  be 
an  American,  no  matter  what  his  environment 
be  as  regards  the  stimuli  of  nourishment  or 
exercise,  we  know  that  his  height,  which  is  mainly 
influenced  by  the  growth  in  length  of  the  bones 
of  the  legs,  will  not  be  more  than  or  less  than 
certain  well-known  figures.  The  average  can  be 
fixed  with  exactitude.  Again,  it  can  be  foretold 
that  an  athlete  who  is  an  expert  at  running  may 
be  able  to  train  himself  (i.e.  acquire  the  capacity) 
to  run  one  hundred  yards  in  ten  seconds,  but  in 
not  more  than  one  fifth  of  a  second  less — that 
exact  mathematical  figure  representing  the  limit 
of  the  making  of  a  man  in  that  particular  direction. 
In  the  same  way  all '  records  '  in  physical  contests 
represent  almost  the  limit  of  human  performance, 
and  though  they  may  be  '  broken, 'every  one  knows 
that  any  newly  established  physical  '  record '  is 
an  infinitesimal  advance  upon  the  last,  and  often 
due  to  circumstances  other  than  the  physical 
acquirements  of  the  performer.  One  need  not 
be  a  prophet  in  order  to  foretell  that  no  man  in 
our  generation  will  ever  run  one  hundred  yards 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  81 

in  eight  seconds  or  jump  a  distance  of  thirty  feet 
on  flat  ground.  The  limits  of  the  growth  of  bones 
and  muscles  in  the  human  frame,  and  of  the  per- 
formance of  their  respective  functions  in  response 
to  the  stimuli  of  nutrition  and  subsequently  of 
exercise,  are  strictly  defined  and  extremely 
inelastic. 

But  turn  the  attention  to  the  mind  and  its 
acquirements,  and  note  well  the  striking  contrast. 
Consider  the  acquirements  possible  for  a  human 
brain — truly  here  a  very  different  state  of  affairs 
exists.  Here  are  to  be  found  no  such  rigid  limits, 
no  hard  and  fast  lines.  Here,  instead  of  fixity, 
there  is  extreme  ductility  and  elasticity ;  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  it  is  perfectly  impossible 
to  foretell  just  how  expert  a  mathematician,  or 
how  eloquent  an  orator,  a  man  may  become ;  or 
how  good  and  moral  a  life  a  man  may  live.  In 
fact,  the  more  he  develops  in  such  directions 
as  these  the  more  he  seems  able  to  develop.  The 
capacity  for  acquiring  in  such  cases  appears  actu- 
ally to  increase  with  the  acquisition  !  The  one 
factor  which  would  seem  to  set  a  limit  in  some  of 
these  spheres  is  the  age  of  the  individual,  the  capa- 
city for  acquirement  being  infinitely  greater  in 
youth  than  afterwards.  But  here  again  there  is 
a  difference  to  be  observed.  It  is  not  so  much 
or  alone  the  power  of  acquiring  that  is  lost  or 
impaired  by  advancing  age.  It  is  rather  the 
^ower  of  changing  the  kind  of  acquirement  or  its 
direction.  No  better  example  of  this  could 
F 


82  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

be  given  than  that  recorded  by  the  immortal 
Darwin  in  his  autobiographical  "  Recollections 
of  the  Development  of  my  Mind  and  Character," 
from  which  the  following  is  quoted  : — 1 

"  I  have  said  that  in  one  respect  my  mind  has 
changed  during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years. 
Up  to  the  age  of  thirty,  or  beyond  it,  poetry  of 
many  kinds,  such  as  the  works  of  Milton,  Gray, 
Byron,  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  and  Shelley,  gave 
me  great  pleasure,  and  even  as  a  schoolboy  I  took 
intense  delight  in  Shakespeare,  especially  in  the 
historical  plays.  I  have  also  said  that  formerly 
pictures  gave  me  a  considerable  and  music  very 
great  delight.  But  now  for  many  years  I  cannot 
endure  to  read  a  line  of  poetry  :  I  have  tried 
lately  to  read  Shakespeare,  and  found  it  so  in- 
tolerably dull  that  it  nauseated  me.  I  have  also 
almost  lost  my  taste  for  pictures  or  music.  .  .  . 
This  curious  and  lamentable  loss  of  the  higher 
aesthetic  tastes  is  all  the  odder,  as  books  on  history, 
biographies,  and  travels  (independently  of  any 
scientific  facts  they  may  contain),  and  essays  on 
all  sorts  of  subjects  interest  me  as  much  as  ever 
they  did.  My  mind  seems  to  have  become  a  kind 
of  machine  for  grinding  general  laws  out  of  large 
collections  of  facts,  but  why  this  should  have 
caused  the  atrophy  of  that  part  of  the  brain  alone, 
on  which  the  higher  tastes  depend,  I  cannot  con- 
ceive ...  if  I  had  to  live  my  life  again,  I  would 

1 '  Life  and  Letters  of  Charles  Darwin.'  Edited  by 
Francis  Darwin.  Vol.  i.  p.  100  et  seq. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  83 

have  made  a  rule  to  read  some  poetry  and  listen 
to  some  music  at  least  once  every  week  ;  for 
perhaps  the  parts  of  my  brain  now  atrophied 
would  thus  have  been  kept  active  through  use. 
The  loss  of  these  tastes  is  a  loss  of  happiness, 
and  may  possibly  be  injurious  to  the  intellect, 
and  more  probably  to  the  moral  character,  by 
enfeebling  the  emotional  part  of  our  nature." 

It  has  been  already  stated  on  a  previous  page 
that  the  characteristics  which  depend  upon  use 
and  exercise  for  their  development  are  usually 
those  which  tend  to  atrophy  by  disuse,  and,  as 
the  above  passage  clearly  shows,  this  was  re- 
cognised by  Darwin  when  too  late  to  prevent 
it  in  his  own  case. 

In  the  same  way  an  astronomer  may  be  able  to 
acquire  more  and  more  astronomical  truth,  and 
see  deeper  into  that  truth  as  he  gets  older ;  but 
it  will  be  found  that  he  becomes  much  less  able 
to  acquire  jother  lines  of  truth  ;  for  example, 
he  will  be  far  less  able  to  acquire  culture  in  a  new 
language,  or  in  music.  He  may  be  a  better  and 
better  biologist  or  astronomer  the  older  he  gets, 
but  in  other  directions  his  capacity  for  acquiring 
becomes  less  and  less. 

The  older  a  man  gets  the  more  able  he  may  be 
to  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  his  ideal  of  the 
greatest  life — in  fact  in  some  directions  it  is  dis- 
tinctly easier  for  him  to  do  so  ;  but  he  is  less 
able  to  acquire  new  methods,  even  to  that  same  end. 
It  has  been  said  that  few  of  us  ever  change  oui 


84  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

opinions  on  any  important  subject  after  the  age 
of  forty-five.  Indeed,  it  is  this  very  fact  that  to  a 
great  extent  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  present-day 
difficulty  in  accepting  religious  truths.  Dr  Arch- 
dall  Reid  forcibly  puts  it  thus  : — 1 

"  It  is  the  misfortune  of  all  religions  that  their 
authoritative  exponents  are,  with  few  exceptions, 
old  men,  comparatively  incapable  of  mental 
acquisition,  and  therefore  of  change.  Consequently 
during  times  of  intellectual  advance  all  religions 
tend  to  succumb  to  a  disease  of  senility.  The 
methods  of  exclusive  intellectual  training  adopted 
by  orthodox  sects  help  in  this,  and  are  intended 
to  keep  their  adherents  within  the  fold.  Amongst 
barbarous  and  illiterate  peoples  such  methods  may 
be  very  effective.  They  are  disastrous  to  the 
sect  when  applied  to  more  civilised  communities. 
'  Infidelity '  is  comparatively  rare  amongst  here- 
tics, as  in  Great  Britain  and  America.  It  is  now 
almost  the  normal  condition  of  educated  men  in 
the  majority  of  orthodox  communities.  Where 
heretics  and  orthodox  Christians  are  mingled 
together,  the  rate  of  increase  of  the  former  is 
usually  the  greater.  The  quite  fatal  weakness 
of  extreme  orthodoxy  in  these  stirring  days  is  the 
low  grade  of  intelligence  it  develops  or  permits. 
Intelligent  men  tend  to  desert  it,  not  necessarily 
because  its  doctrines  are  demonstrably  untrue, 
but  because  they  cannot  breathe  the  mental 

1 '  Principles    of    Heredity,'    (2nd    Edition).       Footnote, 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  85 

atmosphere  which  its  authorities  with  character- 
istic crassness  insist  on  creating." 

All  this  proves  that  the  older  a  man  gets  the 
more  difficult  is  it  for  him  to  get  out  of  mental 
grooves  himself,  or  to  appreciate  the  new  grooves 
in  others ;  but  at  the  same  time  his  mind  is  as 
strongly  acquisitive  as  ever  in  its  own  groove. 
It  is  very  different  from  the  bone  and  muscle, 
and  in  the  sphere  of  intellect  who  shall  set  a  limit 
to  the  extent  of  any  man's  acquirements  !  Just 
think  of  the  innumerable  mental  acquirements 
made  by  little  children,  the  '  real  intellectual 
giants '  !  There  is  absolutely  nothing  in  the 
physical  sphere  to  which  this  may  be  for  a  single 
moment  compared.  And  long  after  the  rest  of 
the  body  has  attained  its  full  development  and 
ceased  activity  in  acquiring,  the  brain  goes  on  and 
on,  making  acquirement  after  acquirement  in 
the  realm  of  ideas  and  thoughts — apparently 
unlimited  in  its  capacity  for  acquiring,  though 
the  directions  of  this  capacity  become  fewer  and 
less  diverse. 

It  is  plain,  then,  that  it  is  in  the  sphere  of  mental 
acquirements  that  the  real  making  of  a  man  is 
a  possibility.  His  physical  tendencies  impose 
the  strictest  limitations  upon  developing  in  that 
sphere,  but  once  the  development  of  the  mind 
begins  it  may  go  forward  to  almost  any  extent. 
That  is,  of  course,  the  reason  why  individuals 
differ  so  much  more  in  their  mental  characters 
than  in  their  physical  ones.  But  the  two  sets 


86  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

of  traits  are  both  human,  interdependent,  de- 
veloped together,  from  the  same. source,  under 
the  same  conditions,  and — who  can  doubt  it  ! — 
in  accordance  with  the  same  laws.  Not  in  accord- 
ance with  analogous  laws  but  the  same  laws. 

Alexander  Pope  was  a  striking  example  of  this. 
Despite  the  unusual  limitations  imposed  upon 
him  by  inherited  physical  tendencies,  he  never- 
theless was  able  to  delevop  his  mental  tendencies 
to  an  extraordinary  degree,  the  capacity  to  do 
which  constituted  his  genius.  So  marked  was 
this  innate  capacity  in  him  that  it  may  be  regarded 
as  a  variation. 

To  some  readers  it  will  probably  come  as  some- 
thing of  a  surprise  to  find  such  traits  as  morality 
and  affection  classified  as  acquirements  rather 
than  as  inborn  instincts.  Most  qualities  of  that 
kind  are  popularly  regarded  as  inborn  instincts, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  evidence  is  all  in  the 
contrary  direction.  A  full  discussion  of  the  matter 
would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  this  work,  but  for 
the  benefit  of  those  to  whom  the  idea  appears 
strange  we  may  quote  a  few  paragraphs  which  will 
suffice  to  make  clear  what  has  been  stated.1  It 
will  be  sufficient  if  we  consider  the  following 
traits  :  parental  love,  modesty,  morality,  fear, 
and  hate  ;  these  being  the  kind  of  characteristics 
which  are  commonly  deemed  inborn  and  which 
it  is  important  to  understand  are  acquirements. 

1  From  Dr  Archdall  Reid's  '  Principles  of  Heredity,' 
chaps,  xx.  and  xxi. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  87 

"  The  extent  to  which  mental  acquirements 
have  replaced  instincts  in  man  is  seldom  if  ever 
realised.  With  the  exception  of  the  desire  for 
rest  and  sleep  when  wearied,  nearly  all  his  remain- 
ing instincts  are  mere  incitements  to  make  ac- 
quirements. Even  sexual  and  parental  love 
incite  thereto.  Men  and  women  endeavour  by 
acquirements  to  increase  their  powers  of  fascina- 
tion. The  mother  learns  to  tend  her  offspring. 
...  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  human 
male  has  any  '  natural  affection  '  for  his  children. 
There  are  indications  that  he  acquires  his  love 
for  them,  as  he  may  acquire  a  love  of  country  or 
of  a  particular  religious  system,  through  the  incite- 
ments of  his  imitative  instincts.  It  is  notorious 
that  the  custom  or  fashion  prevailing  in  any  race 
or  class  largely  determines  whether  the  men  and 
the  women  composing  it  shall  be  good  or  bad 
parents.  .  .  .  Many  races,  ancient  and  modern, 
savage  and  civilised,  have  practised  infanticide 
apparently  without  pain  or  compunction." 

"  Modesty  is  supposed  to  be  an  instinct.  .  .  . 
But  the  baby  has  no  trace  of  it,  and  apparently 
would  not  develop  an  iota  but  for  his  imitative 
faculty.  .  .  .  Only  those  races  that  wear  clothes 
are  modest,  at  any  rate  in  the  Christian  or 
Mohammedan  sense.  Doubtless  clothes  were  used 
originally  for  warmth  or  ornament.  But  in  time 
constant  concealment  of  parts  of  the  body  led 
some  races  to  the  notion  that  it  was  wrong  to 
expose  them— some  races  but  not  all.  ...  A 


88  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

manifest  tradition,  a  mere  acquirement,  modesty 
has  become  as  strong  or  stronger  than  any 
instinct.  .  .  .  The  Turkish  woman  is  modest 
about  her  face  :  the  English  woman  delights  in 
displaying  it." 

"  Morality  is  said  to  be  an  instinct.  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  any  human  individual  or  race 
ever  possessed  any  morality  except  such  as  was 
acquired  through  the  imitative  faculty,  or,  in 
rarer  cases,  through  reasoned  thought.  The  ex- 
traordinary diversity  of  moral  systems  in  time  and 
space,  the  sharp  contrasts  that  exist  between 
race  and  race,  the  swift  transitions  which  have 
occurred  during  history,  are  conclusive  evidence 
that  morality  is  no  other  than  an  acquirement." 

"  Fear  and  hate  are  said  to  be  instincts.  As  a 
fact,  in  man,  they  are  acquired  emotions.  The 
adult  fears  or  hates  nothing  except  that  which  he 
has  learned  to  fear  or  hate.  ...  He  gains  these 
impulses  to  action  through  previous  experience 
of  injury.  The  new-born  infant  neither  fears  nor 
hates  anything." 

These  passages  are  all  that  we  need  quote  for 
our  present  purpose,  which  is  to  emphasise  as 
far  as  possible  the  extent  to  which  man's  mind  is 
made  up  of  acquirements,  the  basis  of  these  being 
his  faculty  of  memory  and  his  instincts,  the  latter 
of  which  are  so  feeble  that  when  born  he  can  do 
little  more  for  himself  than  cry  when  in  pain  and 
suck  when  in  hunger.  The  fact  is  abundantly 
plain  that  in  the  mental  sphere  man's  acquirements 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  89 

infinitely  outweigh  his  inborn  characters,  and  that 
it  is  in  this  realm  that  he  presents  infinite  possi- 
bilities. That  these  mental  traits — especially 
those  which  are  associated  with  what  is  termed 
temperament — are  largely  dependent  upon  the 
so-called  physical  condition  is,  of  course,  well 
recognised.  As  a  rule,  the  better  the  health  the 
better  the  spirits,  and  the  worse  the  health  the 
greater  the  mental  gloom.  Gout,  liver  com- 
plaints, and  dyspepsia,  carry  with  them  their 
corresponding  states  of  mind.  Indeed,  so  closely 
are  the  two  combined  that  nowadays  any  mental 
peculiarity  is  attributed  to  some  corresponding 
brain  change,  a  change,  that  is,  in  actual  brain 
cells.  The  time  has  gone  by  when  a  man  with 
a  faulty  brain  is  expected  to  behave  as  other 
men,  or  punished  for  not  so  doing.  He  is  now 
treated  as  a  patient,  not  a  criminal.  Slowly 
we  are  recognising  that  the  whole  of  a  man's 
nature  is  governed  in  accordance  with  the  same 
laws,  the  only  difference  being  in  the  parts  acted 
upon. 

It  would  thus  appear  that  a  man  is  quanti- 
tatively a  mass  of  acquirements,  and  that  he  is 
especially  so  mentally.  Indeed,  his  mind  is  just 
what  he  chooses  to  make  it,  or  allows  it  to  be 
made,  or  what  it  is  forced  to  be  made.  Not  that 
every  man  can  become  a  genius,  for  such  unusual 
capacity  of  acquisition  is  inborn  and  is  the  factor 
of  variation.  But  the  average  person  has  quite 
sufficient  capacity  of  acquisition  to  enable  him 


go  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

to  become  all  that  is  necessary  for  his  own  well- 
being  as  well  as  for  that  of  the  community  in 
whose  midst  he  dwells.  That  statement  conveys 
a  truth  of  tremendous  importance.  It  means — 
to  take  a  concrete  example — that  if  one  hundred 
newly  born  infants  be  taken  haphazard  from  all 
social  grades  and  every  kind  of  inheritance,  pro- 
bably more  than  ninety  per  cent,  will  be  found  to 
possess  sufficient  capacity  for  making  the  acquire- 
ments necessary  in  order  that  they  may  become 
useful  and  valuable  citizens.  It  means  more 
than  that.  It  means  that  if  one  hundred  newly 
born  infants,  chosen  from  the  worst  surroundings 
conceivable,  from  criminal  and  degraded  parents, 
were  transferred  at  the  moment  of  birth  into 
an  environment  from  which  they  could  obtain 
nothing  but  good,  that  they  would  in  the  vast 
majority  of  cases  develop  into  average  men  and 
women.  Why  ?  Because,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
great  majority  of  the  characteristics  of  their 
parents,  good  and  bad  alike,  are  themselves 
acquired  and  not  inherited.  Under  like  circum- 
stances the  children  will,  of  course,  in  their  turn 
acquire  these  undesirable  or  desirable  traits ; 
and,  as  the  environment  of  the  child  is  commonly 
that  of  the  parents,  child  and  parent  tend  to  be 
alike.  Hence  the  popular  fallacy  that  so  much 
is  inherited.  The  proverb  that  '  like  produces 
like  '  is  true  not  only  of  germ-plasm  but  also  of 
environments.  If  it  were  not  so,  the  quest  of 
the  social  reformer  would  be  absolutely  hope- 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  91 

less.  As  it  is,  he  works  largely  in  the  dark 
b  :cause  of  his  ignorance  of  the  principles  of  here- 
dity. He  does  not  know  what  is  inheritable  and 
what  is  not,  nor  how  much  is  inborn  and  how 
much  acquired.  He  does  not  realise  that  educa- 
tion, sanitation,  and  the  rest,  are  but  the  giving 
or  withholding  of  opportunity,  and  that,  as 
Bateson  says,  the  giving  of  a  stick  will  not  make 
a  dwarf  pea  climb,  although  without  it  the  tall 
pea  lies  prone  upon  the  ground. 

There  are  some  few,  it  is  true,  whose  inherited 
tendencies  are  so  strong  that  they  cannot  be 
overcome,  or  whose  variations  are  so  marked 
that  these  predominate.  When  that  happens 
we  see  that  these  tendencies  stimulate  the  possessor 
to  undesirable  acquirements  which  may  end  in  a 
criminal  life.  Such  cases,  though  rare,  do  occur, 
and  are  really  to  be  regarded  as  moral  insanities. 
They  are  pathological  variations.  When  a  child, 
whose  environment  is  all  that  it  should  be,  never- 
theless persists  in  a  habit  of  lying  or  stealing,  we 
have  to  deal  with  a  variation  which  is  a  matter 
for  treatment,  not  blame.  When  a  child,  on  the 
other  hand,  never  does  anything  wrong  at  all, 
its  piety  is  no  less  pathological  and  usually 
associated  with  physical  disease  involving  an 
early  death.  A  young  child  should  be  a  healthy 
animal  which  can  be  trained  this  way  or  that, 
according  to  the  environments  in  which  it  is 
placed.  Very  rarely,  indeed,  there  occurs  a  varia- 
tion carrying  with  it  physical  perfection  and  an 


92  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

ideal  moral  life  ;  when  these  have  occurred  in  the 
history  of  mankind  the  personalities  became  the 
object  of  worship. 

On  the  whole,  the  infant  has  average  possi- 
bilities. Variations  occur  universally  and  account 
for  individual  differences  under  similar  surround- 
ings, but  as  a  rule  the  variations  are  small  and 
produce  neither  devils  nor  saints,  geniuses  nor 
fools.  In  exceptional  cases  variations  are  great, 
and  then  appear  the  most  striking  personalities 
for  good  or  evil,  genius  or  idiotcy.  The  proportion 
of  infants  with  inborn  tendencies  to  evil,  so  strong 
as  to  render  the  children  utterly  beyond  redemp- 
tion, is  extremely  small.  Such  children,  however, 
do  occur.  The  proportion  likewise  of  those  whose 
inborn  tendencies  are  so  strong  for  good  as  to 
place  them  beyond  any  possible  risk  of  contamina- 
tion from  unfavourable  surroundings  is  perhaps 
smaller  still ;  but  these  too  occur,  and  their 
names  are  immortal.  The  majority  of  men  come 
between  the  two  extremes  :  they  can  never  become 
perfect  either  physically  or  morally,  but  neither 
are  they  necessarily  hopeless  failures  in  either 
sphere.  Their  possibilities  are  determined  by 
their  inherited  or  variational  tendencies,  beyond 
which  they  cannot  go  ;  but  these  in  the  vast 
majority  of  individuals  include  the  capacity  for 
average  physical  development  in  a  fairly  good 
physical  environment,  within  the  limits  set  by 
nature  for  the  growth  of  organs  and  tissues ; 
they  also  include  the  capacity  for  mental  and  moral 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  93 

development  in  response  to  environment,  to  an 
extent  in  which  the  limits  set  by  nature  are  not 
at  all  apparent. 

Our  quantitative  analysis  may  thus  be  sum- 
marised. Man's  "  notion  of  the  world  is  only 
to  a  small  extent  inborn  and  instinctive.  He 
inherits  comparatively  little  of  that  sort  from 
his  parent,  and  transmits  little  of  the  kind  to 
his  child.  But  he  is  pre-eminently  capable  of 
learning.  Though  his  mind  is  a  blank  at  birth, 
yet  every  sight  and  sound,  every  sensation  and 
experience,  adds  to  the  store  of  knowledge  piled 
up  in  his  immense  memory.  Because  man  depends 
so  greatly  on  experience,  and  since  the  experiences 
of  different  men  may  differ  very  widely,  it  follows 
that  men  may  differ  very  greatly  in  mind  from  one 
another.  Their  actions  are  controlled  by  their 
acquirements ;  they  do  not  move  in  a  narrow, 
instinctive  groove.  One  man  acquires  Spanish, 
another  English  ;  one  man  becomes  a  hunter, 
another  a  statesman ;  one  becomes  a  priest, 
another  studies  science  ;  one  is  civilised,  another 
is  a  savage.  The  differences  are  endless.  Man's 
splendid  power  of  learning  through  experience, 
and  of  applying  the  contents  of  his  memory  to 
forecast  and  mould  the  future,  is  his  peculiar 
glory.  Man  is  mentally  a  bundle  of  capacities 
for  making  acquirements,  actual  acquirements, 
and  instincts  which  are  mainly  incitements  to 
make  acquirements  "  (Reid). 

A  study  of  the  character  chart  appended  may 


94  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

perhaps  assist  in  forming  a  clearer  idea  of  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  human  characteristics, 
the  source  and  amount  of  which  we  have  now 


./  \  t 


T 


EXPLANATION 

The  line  /IB  represents  the  average  normal  life,  lived 
within  the  lines  ab,  cd.  Departures  from  that  line  as  high 
as  e,f,h,  and  as  low  as  g,  h,  i,  j,  are  unusual.  At  n  there  is 
deficiency,  physical  or  mental  or  moral ;  at  o  great  depravity 
— a  variation.  At  /  there  is  great  excellency,  mental, 
moral,  or  physical — a  variation.  At  m  there  is  reached  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  highest  ideal — a  variation  which  is 
worshipped. 

investigated.  We  have  laid  our  foundations,  we 
have  analysed  our  material.  We  now  see  exactly 
what  the  Problem  involves,  namely,  how  the  best 
may  be  obtained  from  the  material  available. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MAN  95 

We  have  next  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  laws 
and  processes  in  accordance  with  which  this 
material  is  developed  into  the  best  that  is  poss- 
ible for  any  given  man — which  is  his  greatest 
life. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL 

WE  have  now  reached  the  stage  at  which  those 
for  whom  we  specially  write  will  be  prepared  to 
follow  us  in  our  search  for  the  explanation  of  our 
Problem.  We  have  examined  into  all  the  pos- 
sible sources  of  human  characteristics  and  formed 
some  estimate  of  their  relative  quantities.  But 
at  this  point  we  are  abruptly  reminded  by  our 
orthodox  friends  that  we  have  omitted  to  take 
into  account  the  most  important  part  of  man, 
namely,  his  SOUL  !  That  indeed  would  be  an  ex- 
traordinarily gross  error  of  omission.  But  have 
we  actually  omitted  it  ?  We  stated  on  a  previous 
page  that  all  the  characteristics  which  it  is  possible 
for  an  individual  under  any  circumstances  to 
possess,  are  traceable  ultimately  to  the  action 
which  takes  place  between  his  surroundings  and 
his  inherited  tendencies  or  potentialities  ;  we  could 
imagine  no  other  conceivable  source  of  origin. 
According  to  this  view,  then,  granted  that  man 
has  a  something  which  is  called  his  soul,  which  is 
an  integral  part  of  him,  it  follows  that  this  posses- 
sion is  either  an  inherited  one,  or  a  subsequent 
acquirement  in  response  to  some  stimulus.  We 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL     97 

cannot  regard  it  as  a -variation  if  it  is  common 
to  every  man.  Even  if  it  be  held  that  man  alone 
among  living  creatures  has  this  '  soul/  or  as  it  is 
put  in  the  language  of  orthodoxy  '  a  soul  to  be 
saved,'  that  statement  is  merely  a  form  of  words 
to  describe  something  which  after  all  must  be  either 
an  innate  germinal  character  or  else  an  acquired 
thing.  In  either  case  it  must  be  subject  to  the  uni- 
versal laws  in  accordance  with  which  both  germinal 
and  acquired  characters  behave.  These  laws 
must  mould  its  growth,  maintenance,  and  decay. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  know  exactly  what 
is  meant  by  this  word  '  soul/  which  falls  so  lightly 
from  the  lips  of  thousands.  Most  people  use  it 
as  if  it  were  self-explanatory.  They  seem  further 
to  assume  its  existence  as  a  sort  of  separate 
entity  and  yet  a  personal  possession,  and  they 
proceed  to  endow  it  with  a  number  of  qualities 
and  possibilities  of  its  own,  most  of  which  when 
carefully  analysed  will  be  found  to  be  nothing 
more  than  forms  of  mental  phenomena. 

Be  it  carefully  noted  that  the  existence  of  the 
'  soul '  is  not  denied  or  even  doubted.  Far  from 
it.  What  is  asserted  is  that  this  '  soul '  attribute 
of  man  is  either  an  inborn  tendency  or  a  subsequent 
acquirement  based  upon  such.  If  the  latter,  it 
must  develop  in  response  to  its  own  specific 
stimuli  of  nutrition,  use,  and  injury.  As  a  human 
possession,  it  must  follow  the  same  laws  in  accord- 
ance with  which  other  human  attributes  also 
appear  and  grow. 

G 


98  SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

It  will  be  well  to  be  very  clear  on  this  matter. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  have  before  us  any  particular 
definition  of  a  '  soul/  any  more  than  it  was 
essential  to  have  definitions  of  morality,  modesty, 
or  any  of  the  other  traits  already  dealt  with. 
For  our  purpose  it  matters  not  what  the  '  soul ' 
is  exactly  ;  it  is  sufficient  to  recognise  that  the 
term  represents  to  the  majority  of  people  a  some- 
thing that  man  possesses,  one  of  his  characteristics. 
We  may  or  may  not  be  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  ultimately  means  a  certain  mental  attitude. 
In  any  case  there  is  a  something  not  readily 
defined  but  in  the  existence  of  which  most  people 
believe.  The  reader  may  supply  his  own  definition 
which  will  vary  with  his  own  acquired  religious 
ideas  ;  but  no  matter  what  he  believes  the  '  soul ' 
to  be,  the  question  arises  :  How  does  a  '  soul ' 
develop  and  what  is  its  origin  ? 

Take  the  latter  question  first.  Of  the  ultimate 
origin  of  anything,  we  know  nothing.  We  know 
not  the  ultimate  origin  of  life  itself ;  if  we  did, 
the  rest  would  in  all  probability  be  easy.  But 
given  the  fact  that  living  matter  exists,  we  do 
know  something  of  the  laws  of  its  development 
and  evolution,  and  we  act,  or  should  act,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  knowledge  gained.  We  do  not 
ignore  vital  phenomena  because  of  our  ignorance 
of  the  origin  of  life,  and  neither  need  we  hesitate 
to  observe  the  life-history  of  a  '  soul '  because 
we  are  in  the  dark  as  to  its  ultimate  origin.  Not- 
withstanding this  ignorance,  we  ought  to  be  able 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL     99 

in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  to  form  some  idea 
as  to  its  growth  and  development. 

But  the  ultra-orthodox  reader  again  objects  by 
saying  that  the  '  soul '  neither  grows  nor  develops, 
it  is  perfect  from  the  beginning  !  This  is  the 
kind  of  assertion  which  nauseates  the  modern 
mind,  and  renders  it  utterly  impatient  of  religion 
as  often  presented.  It  is  the  kind  of  statement 
which  makes  orthodoxy,  in  some  of  its  forms, 
so  hopeless  to  help  and  so  unsatisfying.  It  is  not 
so  common  as  it  was,  perhaps,  but  still  the  state- 
ment is  made,  and  presumably  believed,  in  spite 
of  the  utterly  gross  mental  absurdities  which  such 
an  idea  involves.  It  is  still  asserted  by  some  that 
every  human  being,  every  new  born  babe,  comes 
into  this  world  with  a  perfectly  developed  '  soul.' 
The  idea  is  really  unthinkable  ;  but  those  who 
make  such  assertions  do  not  think,  and  would 
rather  others  did  not  either.  Can  anyone  for 
a  moment  imagine  anything  which  the  word 
'  soul '  conveys  to  them  being  possessed  by  an 
infant  who  has  absolutely  no  conception  of  right 
or  wrong,  no  idea  at  all  of  any  ethical  standard, 
almost  no  mind  as  yet !  Whatever  the  '  soul ' 
may  be  it  surely  demands  first  a  mind  in  its 
possessor,  or  it  would  seem  to  mean  little  or 
nothing.  The  idea  of  a  perfect  '  soul '  being  an 
attribute  of  a  new-born  babe  involves  one  in  ideas 
almost  too  absurd  to  mention,  so  grossly  fantastic 
are  they.  At  what  period  of  the  life  in  the  womb 
did  this  '  soul '  enter  into  the  embryo  or  foetus  ? 


ioo         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Has  a  three  month's  foetus  this  '  soul '  ?  If  not, 
when  does  it  arrive  ?  Is  it  there  at  seven  months 
— the  earliest  period  at  which  a  human  infant  may 
be  born  and  live  ?  If  so,  is  it  there  whether  the 
child  be  born  alive  or  dead  ?  Or  is  it  not  present 
unless  the  child  is  born  at  full  time,  and  if  not, 
why  not  ?  And  even  then,  has  a  child  one  hour 
before  birth  this  soul,  or  not  until  the  moment 
it  is  delivered  ?  It  is  easy  to  say  that  such  ques- 
tions are  ridiculous  ;  so  they  are,  but  they  are 
ridiculous  only  because  the  teaching  which  renders 
them  necessary  is  itself  ridiculous. 

It  matters  not  in  what  exact  sense  this  word 
'  soul '  be  used.  If  it  be  as  G.  H.  Lewes  says, 
"  all  the  modifications  of  the  thinking  being — 
all  the  sensations,  thoughts,  and  passions,  require 
to  be  embraced  in  some  general  idea,  as  the  ulti- 
mate ground  and  possibility  for  these  modifica- 
tions. This  idea  is  that  of  an  Ego,  of  a  personality 
— of  a  soul  in  short  "  :  if  this  be  meant,  then 
obviously  the  soul  is  made  up  of  many  acquire- 
ments. Is  it  that  part  of  man  which  enables  him 
to  think  and  reason,  or  that  which  renders  him  a 
subject  of  moral  government,  or  the  emotional 
part  of  his  nature,  or  the  seat  of  the  feelings,  or 
the  vital  principle,  or  the  source  of  action,  or  any 
combination  of  two  or  more  of  these  ?  Still 
is  it  an  acquirement  based  upon  inborn  tenden- 
cies. Even  if  it  be  that  part  of  man  which  is 
immortal,  it  still  must  be  either  inborn  in  him 
,or  be  obtained  from  without — an  innate  possibility 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL    101 

or  a  pure  acquirement,  and  in  any  case  therefore 
a  matter  falling  within  the  laws  of  growth,  nutri- 
tion, and  function.  Think  of  the  '  soul '  in  any 
terms  at  all  conceivable  to  the  mind,  it  remains 
an  attribute  of  man  just  as  much  as  his  mind  is, 
and  any  reasonable  conception  of  it  demands  its 
gradual  growth  to  perfection  like  any  other 
attribute,  and  consequently  its  possibility  of 
degradation  by  processes  of  atrophy.  Those 
who  see  no  reason  to  doubt  its  immortality  will 
probably  lean  to  the  belief  that  it  never  reaches 
perfection  in  this  life  but  demands  another  en- 
vironment for  its  full  development.  That  idea 
is  intelligible  whether  based  upon  any  reliable 
evidence  or  not.  But  to  imagine  that  a  quality 
or  possession  of  the  kind  involved  in  the  idea  of 
a  '  soul '  is  ready-made  in  an  infant,  simply 
destroys  any  ethical  value  in  the  idea  itself  and 
is  beyond  comprehension. 

A  very  little  thought  will  force  us  to  the  con- 
clusion that  if  every  human  being  has  within 
him  the  innate  capacity  to  develop  a  '  soul/  it 
will  depend  largely  upon  his  environment  after 
birth  whether  and  to  what  extent  that  capacity 
is  utilised.  In  other  words,  a  '  soul '  is  not  born, 
but  made.  It  is  no  more  born  than  mind  is  born. 
Both  are  acquired,  even  if  we  suppose  they  are 
independent.  The  soul  of  a  man  of  forty  is  no 
more  the  same  as  that  of  the  same  being  at  the 
age  of  four  than  his  mind  is  the  same.  And 
curiously  enough  even  those  who  seem  to  believe 


102         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

that  the  '  soul '  is  fully  present  in  every  human 
being  at  all  times  of  life  act  upon  the  biological 
view  that  it  has  to  be  gradually  formed  by  train- 
ing, in  other  words,  that  it  grows  in  response  to 
its  environment.  They  act  as  if  the  growth  or 
atrophy  of  this  '  soul '  was  a  matter  of  the  greatest 
importance  and  a  thing  to  be  striven  after  with 
all  a  man's  strength.  They  recognise  plainly 
that  if  it  be  not  nourished  and  exercised  and  cared 
for,  and  protected  from  harmful  agencies,  it  may 
decay,  atrophy,  and  possibly  disappear.  The 
whole  purpose  of  religious  teaching  and  instruction 
is  directed  to  this  end,  no  matter  what  dogma 
may  be  asserted.  Practice,  if  not  theory,  demands 
a  gradual  process  in  the  average  person,  though 
it  may  be  unnecessary  in  the  case  of  one  or  two 
in  the  history  of  a  world,  and  hopeless  in  the  case 
of  a  few  others.  These  are  extreme  variations. 
All  religious  systems  really  imply  that  a  man's 
'  soul '  depends  upon  the  measure  of  success  he 
obtains,  in  his  struggle  in  life,  to  obtain  the  mastery 
over  evil  of  one  sort  or  another.  The  kind  and 
amount  of  '  soul '  obtained  is  the  result  of  the 
physical  and  moral  environment  acting  upon 
the  capacity  for  soul-development  possessed  by 
the  individual.  In  other  words,  it  is  the  result 
of  the  interaction  between  an  inborn  capacity 
and  external  circumstances.  Theology  may  or 
may  not  teach  that  a  '  soul '  is  an  inborn  human 
character,  but  whether  it  does  so  or  not  it  takes 
care  to  inculcate  in  its  followers  the  necessity 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL    103 

of  making  the  acquisition.  The  '  soul '  is  '  lost ' 
or  it  is  '  saved '  according  to  the  life  lived  or  the 
beliefs  held.  In  plain  words,  it  grows  or  does  not 
grow  according  to  the  influences  acting  upon  its 
growth-capacity,  like  other  traits.  '  Saving  a 
soul/  if  it  means  anything,  means  giving  a  man 
the  opportunity  to  live  in  an  environment  in 
response  to  the  stimuli  of  which  his  soul-capacity 
may  grow.  '  Losing  a  soul '  means  depriving  a 
man  of  this  opportunity  of  a  suitable  soul-environ- 
ment, or  it  means  his  own  voluntary  refusal  to 
live  in  that  environment,  which  alone  will  grow 
a  '  soul.'  The  greatest  of  ethical  teachers  main- 
tained that  from  the  point  of  view  of  profit  and 
loss,  it  did  not  pay  a  man  to  gain  even  the  whole 
world  if  in  so  doing  he  failed  to  allow  his  '  soul ' 
to  grow.  Obviously,  like  other  capacities  for 
growth  and  development,  that  of  the  '  soul ' 
can  be  starved,  stunted,  interfered  with,  neglected, 
destroyed. 

Every  increase  of  human  knowledge  only  lends 
additional  strength  to  the  conviction  that  the 
whole  universe  and  all  its  parts  has  come  into 
existence,  is  maintained,  and  undergoes  decay, 
as  the  result  of  definite  laws  and  in  no  haphazard 
manner  ;  in  fact,  the  modern  belief  is  in  the  unity 
of  nature  and  the  reign  of  law.  "It  is  a  great 
gain  to  have  eliminated  chance,  to  find  science 
declaring  that  there  must  be  a  reason  for  every- 
thing, even  when  it  cannot  hazard  a  conjecture 
as  to  what  that  reason  is."  The  old  orthodoxy 


104         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

seemed  to  think  that  such  a  belief  in  the  reign 
of  law  conflicted  with  that  in  a  supreme  power, 
but  it  does  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  simply 
seeks  to  indicate  what  is  known  as  to  the  methods 
by  which  that  power  works.  The  deist  need  not 
give  up  his  belief  because  it  seems  certain  that 
the  supreme  power — which  he  calls  God — works 
along  certain  lines  and  by  definite  processes, 
instead  of  by  millions  of  disconnected  and  in- 
stantaneous creative  acts.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  whether  this  power  could  have  acted  in  this 
way  or  that ;  it  is  simply  that,  as  far  as  we  are 
able  to  learn,  the  one  is  the  method  adopted,  and 
the  other  is  not.  Gradual  development  and  evolu- 
tion, as  far  as  human  observation  can  judge,  seem 
to  have  been  the  means  used.  Everything  seems 
to  have  been  the  result  of  ordered  steps,  although 
the  manifestations  may  appear  sudden.  Thus, 
certain  functions  of  the  human  body  appear 
suddenly,  but  on  investigation  it  is  found  that 
there  has  been  long  previous  preparation  without 
which  the  sudden  manifestation  could  not  have 
occurred.  Without  any  obvious  warning,  a  man 
may  go  suddenly  mad — an  instantaneous  mani- 
festation ;  but  it  is  not  on  account  of  an  evil 
spirit  having  at  that  moment  entered  into  him 
and  dominated  his  acts  ;  it  is  the  result  of  all  that 
has  happened  in  his  mind  in  the  past,  and  to  the 
germ-plasm  from  which  he  has  been  developed, 
and  is  to  be  associated  with  the  gradual  decay 
of  part  of  his  brain  till  a  point  is  reached  at  which 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  SOUL    105 

sanity  is  no  longer  possible.  The  gradual  process 
may  be  perfectly  unconscious,  especially  in  the 
mental  sphere,  though  a  physical  organ  may 
likewise  appear  to  break  down  as  suddenly  ;  both, 
however,  are  the  result  of  unnoticed  but  none  the 
less  existing  previous  changes.  Mentally  also 
a  sudden  conviction  may  be  arrived  at,  a  man  may 
'  change  his  mind,'  as  we  say  ;  but  the  manifesta- 
tion thus  appearing  is  the  result  of  a  number  of 
received  impressions  which  have  unconsciously 
paved  the  way  for  the  conviction  to  assert  itself 
suddenly. 

No  educated  person  nowadays  could  accept 
with  satisfaction  a  statement  that  the  world 
came  into  existence  in  B.C.  4004,  yet  it  is  not  very 
long  ago  when  it  would  have  been  held  in  orthodox 
quarters  most  heretical  to  doubt  it.  In  every 
sphere  it  is  recognised  that  the  keynote  of  the 
universe  is  gradual  change  in  accordance  with 
law,  and  mankind  lives  in  the  hope  that  the 
gradual  change  ultimately  makes  for  progress. 
What  the  modern  mind  calls  '  law  '  the  orthodox 
mind  calls  '  God's  Will,'  but  the  latter  is  curiously 
inclined  to  limit  the  operation  of  that  will  to  an 
ancient  conception  of  its  method  of  acting — 
a  conception  unsupported  by  evidence.  This 
limitation  imposed  by  ancient  dogma  is  adhered 
to  by  some,  apparently  because  they  think  that 
they  give  up  some  of  their  belief  in  omniscience 
and  omnipotence  by  admitting  that  anything 
can  be  or  has  been  discovered  of  the  methods ; 


io6         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

whereas  it  is  the  simple  truth  that  the  modern 
religious  mind,  which  is  at  the  same  time  scientific, 
has  the  opportunity  of  reaching  an  infinitely 
grander  conception  of  the  universe  than  was  ever 
possible  before.  The  scientific  mind,  no  less  than 
the  orthodox,  demands  a  first  cause;  but  the 
former,  in  the  absence  of  exact  knowledge  and 
with  a  far  deeper  reverence  for  the  truth,  refuses 
to  accept  a  description  of  the  power  behind  and 
in  all  things  which  is  embodied  as  a  final  dogma 
in  any  creed,  no  matter  what  its  origin. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  labour  the  point ;  it  can 
only  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  philosophical 
curiosities  of  our  time  that,  while  everyone  admits 
the  truth  of  the  reign  of  law  and  order  in  things 
'  temporal,'  there  are  still  some  who  refuse  to 
apply  their  knowledge  to  things  '  spiritual.'  and 
who  persist  in  regarding  the  latter  as  things  apart 
from  all  other  known  phenomena  and  therefore 
outside  all  that  is  known  of  law. 

For  them,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  the  develop- 
ment of  the  soul.  It  is  something  of  the  nature 
of  which  we  know  nothing — and  yet  in  practice 
they  insist  upon  its  being  treated  like  any  other 
human  attribute  in  order  that  it  may  develop. 
As  in  many  other  spheres  of  actual  life,  man  has 
often  found  out  empirically  the  best  way  to  pro- 
ceed, long  before  he  has  understood  the  reason 
for  his  proceeding.  In  this  case  there  are  still 
some  who  do  not  wish  to  understand.  They 
need  have  no  quarrel  with  those  who  do. 


PART   II 

THE  EXPLANATION 


Part  II 

CHAPTER  V 

THE  EXPLANATION 

WE  have  now  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  prin- 
cipal object  we  have  in  view,  namely,  the  search 
for  some  statement  of  the  laws  in  accordance 
with  which  spiritual  phenomena  occur.  What 
are  the  laws  by  living  in  accordance  with  which 
the  greatest  life  may  be  attained  ?  What  is  the 
process  by  which  the  wicked  man  is  enabled  to 
turn  from  his  wickedness,  do  that  which  is  right, 
and  '  save  his  soul  ?  '  We  approach  this  part 
of  our  task  with  considerable  anxiety  and  much 
humility,  but  still  with  some  confidence  that, 
if  a  sufficiently  wide  view  be  taken,  we  may  hope 
to  find  the  looked-for  solution  in  the  application 
to  this  part  of  man's  nature  of  some  all-pervading 
laws  and  influences.  We  refuse  to  accept  any 
magical  theories  which  place  these  phenomena 
outside  the  scope  of  other  human  experiences. 
It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  what  we  term 
a  spiritual  character,  any  more  than  a  physical 
character  or  a  mental  one,  arises  de  novo  or  by 
processes  which  have  no  counterpart  in  the  rest 

109 


no        SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

of  the  natural  world.  In  a  word,  the  attempt 
must  be  made  to  bring  this  particular  acquirement 
or  group  of  acquirements  into  line  with  other 
acquirements  which  we  know  to  be  due  to  man's 
inherent  capacity  to  develop  in  response  to  his 
surroundings.  Even  should  our  lack  of  knowledge 
or  the  power  to  apply  it  result  in  partial  or  com- 
plete failure,  there  will  remain  the  satisfaction 
of  having  made  an  attempt  to  unify  what  is  known. 

In  this  attempt  it  will  be  well  to  begin  with  a 
statement  of  known  facts  and  recognised  laws, 
before  passing  to  applications  of  those  laws  which 
are  new — to  state  first  the  facts  and  applications 
in  the  so-called  physical  sphere  ;  then  in  the 
so-called  moral  sphere,  and  lastly  in  the  so-called 
spiritual  sphere — remembering  that  we  use  these 
terms  for  descriptive  purposes  and  for  the  sake 
of  convenience,  but  believing  that  they  represent 
nothing  more  than  the  varied  aspects  of  one 
aggregation  of  natural  phenomena.  We  shall 
seek  for  no  analogous  spiritual  laws,  no  analogous 
moral  laws,  but  for  some  universal  laws  which 
apply  not  merely  to  one  but  to  every  part  of  man's 
nature.  If  evolution  be  true,  it  is  universal.  If 
the  current  theory  of  evolution  be  true,  then  in  all 
these  spheres  there  is  a  selection  of  the  fittest 
in  the  struggle  for  existence,  be  that  struggle 
physical,  mental,  moral,  or  spiritual. 

No  one  doubts  that  evolution  is  a  fact ;  that 
is,  no  one  doubts  the  existence  of  adaptive  change 
in  response  to  varying  environment.  Every 


THE  EXPLANATION  in 

religion  demands  a  belief  in  that,  because  no  re- 
ligion teaches  that  man  is  to-day  what  he  was 
originally.  How  that  adaptive  change  is  brought 
about  may  be,  and  is,  a  matter  of  theory,  of  which 
the  Darwinian  is  the  most  widely  believed, 
either  as  originally  stated  or  in  its  subsequent 
modification.  The  presumption  is,  that  if  it  can 
be  shown  by  what  means  man  has  evolved  in 
certain  directions,  a  further  application  of  the 
same  laws  would  show  how  he  may  evolve  in 
others.  If  it  can  be  shown  how  humanity  has 
made  any  great  advance  in  some  aspects,  then 
it  is  probable  that  the  same  principles — for 
nature  is  sparing  of  her  ways  and  means — will 
be  found  underlying  all  other  possible  advances. 
We  may,  for  this  purpose,  suppose  that  human 
nature  may  be  viewed  from  four  aspects,  all  of 
which  are  interdependent  and  have  intimate 
relationships  one  with  another,  but  which  may 
be  more  or  less  artifically  separated  for  conveni- 
ence sake.  We  should  thus  have  to  deal  with  : — 

(a)  Physical  phenomena. 

(b)  Mental  phenomena. 

(c)  Moral  phenomena. 

(d)  Spiritual  phenomena.1 

1  It  is  of  course  quite  impossible  to  treat  any  one  of  these 
spheres  without  encroaching  somewhat  upon  the  others. 
It  is  when  we  do  so  that  the  intimate  connection  is  seen. 
"  A  healthy  mind  in  a  healthy  body "  shows  that  even 
popularly  the  two  are  recognised  to  depend  on  each  other  ; 
and  the  close  connection  between  moral  •  evil  and  physical 
disease  is  equally  obvious.  If,  as  is  probable,  the  spiritual 


112         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Our  problem  is — How  to  attain  the  greatest 
life — the  most  perfect  life — in  all  these  spheres. 
In  what  way,  and  in  accordance  with  what  general 
laws,  does  man  attain  advancement  towards 
perfection — physically,  morally,  mentally,  spiritu- 
ally ?  How  is  a  man  able  to  survive  all  the  de- 
structive agencies  of  all  these  types  which  ac 
upon  him  ?  How  does  he  become  more  aiy 
more  able  to  do  so  ?  To  answer  these  questio 
it  will  be  necessary  to  search  man's  history  and 
observe  what  has  happened — to  see  how  man 
has  reacted  to  these  agencies — to  note  why  he 
has  perished  when  he  has  perished,  why  he  has 
survived  when  he  has  survived.  We  require  to 
find  some  agency  of  selection  acting  universally, 
an  agency  which  eliminates  the  unfit  and  selects 
the  fittest — in  a  word,  the  most  universally  de- 
structive agent  known.  Given  the  fact  that 
every  human  being  has  the  capacity  of  physical, 
mental,  moral,  and  spiritual  life,  what  is  the 
agency  which  is  most  universally  destructive 
to  that  life  ? 

There  is  one  answer,  and  one  answer  only, 
to  that  question  : — 

THAT  AGENCY  IS  DISEASE 

The  one  universally-acting  destructive  influence, 
that  which  everywhere  tends  to  destroy  life,  to 

life  and  the  soul  of  man  expresses  the  general  result  of  all 
these,  then  the  attempt  to  separate  them  absolutely  is  a 
perfectly  futile  one. 


THE  EXPLANATION  113 

eliminate  the  unfit,  is  Disease  ;  and  disease  tends 
to  produce  DEATH.  It  may  be  physical,  mental, 
moral,  or  spiritual,  but,  in  all  spheres  and  in  all 
circumstances,  it  is  disease  which  is  the  great 
life-destroyer. 

It  sounds  a  truism,  and  so  it  is,  and  yet  curiously 
enough  it  is  the  one  factor  in  the  evolution  of 
living  creatures  which  has  been  least  considered 
by  those  who  have  studied  the  subject.  Man 
must  be  able  to  some  extent  to  resist  this  agency, 
or  he  could  not  live.  If  he  became  more  and  more 
susceptible  to  it,  the  earth  would  soon  become 
uninhabited.  His  power  of  resistance  must  be 
a  matter  of  law.  Therefore  the  laws  in  accordance 
with  which  man  is  best  able  to  resist  or  overcome 
disease  are  the  laws  in  accordance  with  which 
he  is  enabled  to  approach  nearest  to  perfection. 
Fortunately,  both  the  laws  themselves  and  the 
method  of  their  operation  are  well  known  in  many 
of  their  phases  of  action  ;  all  that  is  necessary 
is  to  extend  their  application  more  widely. 

We  shall,  therefore,  consider  first,  the  case  of 
those  physical  diseases  which  tend  to  cause 
death  universally,  and  observe  by  what  means 
man  is  enabled  to  survive  and  become  more  and 
more  able  to  withstand  this  destructive  agency. 
These  widespread  diseases  are  all  of  the  infective 
type,  spreading  from  one  individual  to  another 
throughout  the  community,  and  causing  tre- 
mendous loss  of  life.  They  are  now  known 
to  be  due  to  minute  living  cells  called  microbes, 
H 


114         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

germs,  bacteria,  or  micro-organisms,  some  of 
which  are  extremely  deadly.  These  micro- 
organisms are  so  commonly  distributed  in  nature 
that  no  one  can  escape  coming  into  contact  with 
them.  It  is  therefore  quite  obvious  that,  unless 
human  beings  possessed  some  means  of  repelling 
their  attacks,  no  one  would  escape  infection. 
Further,  unless  all  possessed  some  power  of 
resisting  their  results,  no  one  when  infected 
would  recover. 

In  other  words,  there  must  exist  in  man 
some  degree  of  Natural  Resistance  to  these  causes 
of  disease,  a  resistance  which  is  an  inborn  germinal 
character  in  the  individual,  without  which  he 
could  hardly  survive.  This  is  actually  the  case. 
The  power  thus  possessed  is  termed  '  NATURAL 

IMMUNITY,'  Or  '  INNATE   IMMUNITY,'    because   it   is 

an  inborn  germinal  character. 

These  terms  introduce  us  to  the  most  important 
word  in  the  whole  of  our  subject — probably  the 
most  important  word  in  the  whole  of  biological 
science — the  word  IMMUNITY.  Its  meaning  must 
be  clearly  understood  if  we  would  grasp  in  any 
degree  the  meaning  of  life  itself  in  any  of  its 
varied  aspects.  It  holds  the  secret  key  which 
alone  unlocks  all  the  most  important  problems 
which  man  in  every  part  of  his  nature  has  to 
settle  for  himself  or  have  settled  for  him  ;  and, 
amongst  the  rest,  it  contains  the  key  to  the 
special  problem  on  which  we  are  engaged — that 
of  how  to  live  the  greatest  life. 


THE  EXPLANATION  115 

The  highest  possibility  for  man  is  to  possess 
immunity  to  all  that  is  detrimental  to  his  perfect 
development,  or  destructive  to  his  life. 

It  is,  or  should  be,  his  greatest  aim  to  become 
immune  to  any  and  all  agencies  whatsoever 
which  tend  to  produce  in  him  any  form  of 
disease. 

Conversely,  his  highest  possibility  is  to  possess 
susceptibility  to  all  that  conduces  to  his  perfect 
development,  to  all  that  strengthens  his  life. 

It  is,  or  should  be,  his  greatest  aim  to  render 
himself  susceptible  to  any  and  all  agencies  what- 
soever which  are  conducive  to  that  end. 

There  is  nothing  approaching  this  in  importance 
for  man.  The  most  perfectly  healthy  man  that 
lives,  is  so  in  virtue  of  his  immunity  to  physical 
infection. 

The  most  perfect  character  ever  known  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  was  so  in  virtue  of  his 
immunity  to  moral  infection. 

What  is  IMMUNITY  ?  The  word  will  figure  so 
largely  in  our  argument  that  it  is  most  essential 
that  we  grasp  its  meaning  and  define  exactly 
the  sense  in  which  it  is  used.  Literally,  of  course, 
the  word  implies  a  freedom  from,  or  exemption 
from,  some  obligation,  duty,  or  imposition.  It  is 
a  particular  privilege.  Thus  Dry  den  speaks  of 
'  immunity  from  error,'  and  Cowper  of  '  a  long 
immunity  from  grief  or  pain  ' — references  which 
cover  phases  other  than  the  physical. 

To  make  the  modern  scientific  meaning  and 


n6         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

use  of  the  word  perfectly  plain,  we  may  define 
and  exemplify  it  as  follows  : — 

IMMUNITY 

General  definition. — IMMUNITY  is  that  condition 
in  virtue  of  which  there  is  absolute  or  partial  free- 
dom from,  or  capacity  to  resist,  certain  agencies. 

A.  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY  is  that  condition  of  a 
race  or  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which  agencies 
destructive  to  life  can  be  resisted  absolutely  or 
partially. 

(a)  Example. — In  the  sphere  of  universal  disease 
the   destructive    agencies    are    micro-organisms. 
Immunity  here  is,  therefore,  the  capacity  of  an 
individual  to  resist  infection  or  to  recover  from 
disease. 

B.  MORAL  IMMUNITY  is  that  condition  of  a 
race  or  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which  agencies 
destructive  to  moral  life  can  be  resisted  absolutely 
or  partially. 

(b)  Example. — In  the  sphere  of  morality  the 
destructive    agencies    are    temptation    and    sin. 
Immunity  here,  therefore,  is  the  capacity  of  an 
individual   to   resist   temptation   or   to   recover 
from  sin. 

C.  MENTAL  IMMUNITY  is  that  condition  of  a 
race  or  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which  agencies 
destructive    to    mental    life    and    development 
can  be  resisted  absolutely  or  partially. 

(c)  Example.     In  the  mental  sphere  the  destruc- 
tive agencies  are  such  factors  as  faulty  education. 


THE  EXPLANATION  117 

or  religious  systems  which  repress  natural  curiosity, 
or  the  varied  causes  of  lack  of  opportunity  for 
the  mind  to  grow.  Immunity  here,  therefore, 
is  that  capacity  of  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which 
he  is  able  to  resist  repression  or  to  overcome 
difficulties. 

D.  SPIRITUAL  IMMUNITY  is  that  condition  of 
a  race  or  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which  agencies 
destructive  to  spiritual  life  or  development  can 
be  resisted  absolutely  or  partially. 

(d)  Example. — The  Founder  of  Christianity. 

The  condition  known  as  '  susceptibility '  is 
the  exact  opposite  of  '  immunity ' ;  it  is  that 
condition  of  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which 
he  is  liable  to  be  affected  by  all  these  varied 
agencies.  The  converse  of  the  above  definitions 
will,  therefore,  be  those  expressing  physical, 
mental,  moral,  and  spiritual  susceptibility.  We 
shall  see  that  the  conclusion  will  be  forced  upon 
us,  that  man  is  simply  the  result  of  the  sum 
total  of  all  his  immunities  and  susceptibilities. 

The  above  brief  definitions  should  be  thoroughly 
known  and  remembered  before  proceeding  further, 
as  the  subsequent  argument  depends  upon  them. 
In  the  sphere  of  disease  immunity  is  that  condition 
which  enables  us  to  keep  free  from  infection, 
or,  having  become  infected,  to  recover.  By  its 
means  we  are  enabled  to  withstand  the  attack. 
That  is,  however,  but  one  phase  of  the  all-per- 
vading principle.  Immunity  enables  us  to  resist 


n8         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

attacks  which  threaten  our  lives  from  every 
quarter.  Without  this  power  of  resistance  every 
one  would  become  the  subject  of  infection,  and 
no  one  could  recover  when  attacked.  Life  would 
be  an  impossibility.  In  fact,  as  already  hinted, 
life  is  the  measure  of  the  fulness  of  immunities. 
In  the  sphere  of  disease  total  immunity  means 
a  complete  insusceptibility  to  any  given  infection 
— a  condition  which  it  is  the  great  aim  of  modern 
scientific  medicine  to  produce.  In  the  sphere 
of  ethics  total  immunity  means  complete  insus- 
ceptibility to  any  given  temptation — a  state 
which  it  has  been  the  aim  of  the  founders  of  every 
religion  to  convey.  In  both  spheres,  if  the 
immunity  be  not  inborn,  then  arises  the  problem 
of  how  it  may  be  acquired.  In  disease,  if  a  man 
be  not  naturally  immune  to  infection,  he  must 
be  treated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  him  so. 
In  ethics,  if  he  be  not  immune  to  temptation, 
he  must  also  undergo  a  treatment  by  which  he 
may  become  so.  In  the  sphere  of  disease  various 
methods  have  been  suggested  in  order  to  make 
man  immune  from  this  or  that  infection,  but 
all  depend  upon  the  law  of  immunity.  In  ethics 
various  philosophers  and  founders  of  religions 
have  propounded  what  they  thought  to  be  in- 
fallible means  of  conferring  this  protection,  but 
all  alike  depend  upon  the  same  general  principle. 
If  not  possessed  naturally,  this  immunity  must 
be  acquired  by  methods  to  be  considered  later ; 
but  at  present  we  are  concerned  with  the  inborn 


THE  EXPLANATION  119 

power  possessed,  to  some  extent,  by  every  in- 
dividual— the  power  of  Natural  Resistance  or 
Innate  Immunity. 

In  order  that  the  universality  of  the  laws  of 
immunity  may  be  thoroughly  realised,  we  may 
very  briefly  refer  to  races  as  well  as  to  individuals, 
and  to  species  other  than  the  human — briefly, 
indeed,  because  our  chief  concern  is  with  the 
individual  problem.  Many  examples  of  this 
Natural  Resistance  might  be  quoted  in  illustration 
of  the  law  ;  the  following  will  suffice. 

The  lower  animals,  in  virtue  of  their  inborn 
natural  resistance  or  immunity,  are  absolutely 
resistant  to  some  of  the  infections  which  cause 
specific  diseases  in  man.  Neither  typhoid  fever 
nor  Asiatic  cholera  occur  in  animals  under  natural 
conditions,  even  though  their  human  owners 
are  being  decimated  by  these  epidemics.  On 
the  other  hand,  human  beings  are  immune  from 
some  infections  which  attack  animals,  for  example, 
swine  fever.  Natural  Immunity,  therefore,  varies 
with  the  species  of  animal  concerned  ;  some  are 
immune  to  one  agency,  some  to  others  ;  some  are 
susceptible  to  this,  others  to  that.  But  not  only 
so  ;  this  natural  resistance  varies  with  different 
races  of  the  same  species,  which  is  a  more  interest- 
ing and  important  matter  for  us.  Thus,  the 
various  human  races,  black,  yellow,  red,  and  white, 
exhibit  varying  degrees  of  resistance  to  the  same 
infecting  agencies,  and  these  are  doubtless  co- 
related  to  less  obvious  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual 


120         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

immunities,  a  fact  which  evangelistic  zeal  would 
do  well  to  bear  in  mind.  Thus,  "  the  field-mouse 
(Arvicola  arvalis]  is  very  susceptible  to  glanders 
and  tuberculosis,  whilst  the  common  house 
mouse  and  white  mouse  are  resistant.  The 
marmot  (Spermophilus  guttatus),  which  is  indi- 
genous to  Southern  Russia,  possesses  a  remarkable 
susceptibility  to  glanders.  Even  racial  differences 
may  play  an  important  part.  Algerian  sheep, 
for  example,  are  much  less  susceptible  to  anthrax 
than  are  the  races  of  European  sheep.  Similarly, 
certain  breeds  of  swine  (Yorkshire  hogs)  are 
decidedly  more  resistant  to  swine  erysipelas  than 
are  other  breeds.  Differences  are  found  also 
among  the  races  of  men.  Negroes  are  noted 
for  their  remarkable  powers  of  resistance  to  yellow 
fever,  and  in  lesser  degree  to  malaria,  yet  they 
quickly  sicken  of,  and  succumb  to,  tuberculosis 
and  small-pox."1 

Now,  inasmuch  as  the  micro-organisms,  which 
are  the  great  agents  of  infection,  are  wide-spread 
in  nature,  it  is  obvious  that  this  natural  immunity 
depends  upon  some  power  in  the  tissues  of  an 
individual  to  overcome  and  destroy  these  germs 
when  they  gain  access  on  to,  or  into,  the  body. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  know  that  certain  cells 
and  fluids  in  the  body  have  this  '  germicidal ' 
capacity  highly  developed  during  healthy  life, 
and  we  know,  therefore,  that  Natural  Resistance 

1  Professor  Hans  Buchner  or  IMMUNITY.  Encyclo- 
paedia Medico. 


THE  EXPLANATION  121 

is  chiefly  the  capacity  of  the  individual  to 
resist  infection,  rather  than  to  recover  from 
disease. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  working  of  the  laws 
of  immunity  we  must  now  turn  to  the  past  history 
of  man  and  note  carefully  what  has  taken  place. 
As  far  as  physical,  mental,  and  moral  phenomena 
are  concerned,  the  page  is  open  for  him  who  wills 
to  read  ;  and  our  final  task  will  consist  merely 
in  bringing  the  spiritual  phenomena  into  line  with 
these.  It  will  be  simpler  if  each  of  these  phases 
be  considered  independently ;  and  we,  therefore, 
turn  first  to  a  consideration  of  the  laws  of  im- 
munity in  relation  to  physical  infectious  disease. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY 

WE  have  selected  Disease  as  the  type  of  agency 
to  study,  because  of  all  others  it  is  the  most  uni- 
versally selective  agent  among  human  races  and 
individuals.  From  the  point  of  view  of  immunity, 
infectious  diseases  belong  to  one  of  two  types, 
which  are  exemplified  by  tuberculosis  and  measles, 
and,  as  the  history  of  these  conditions  is  well 
known,  and  as  they  themselves  are  so  widely 
spread,  they  will  serve  our  purpose. 

Consider,  first,  the  case  of  tuberculosis,  a 
disease  from  which  no  less  than  one-seventh  of  the 
whole  human  race  is  said  to  perish,  and  which  is, 
therefore,  necessarily  a  potent  agent  of  selection. 
The  purely  medical  aspect  of  the  disease  does  not 
concern  us  here,  it  being  sufficient  to  know  that 
it  is  caused  by  a  definite  micro-organism — the 
tubercle  bacillus — and  that  it  is  infectious.  The 
biological  aspect  is,  however,  of  the  greatest 
possible  significance. 

In  order  to  trace  the  course  of  events  clearly, 
that  is,  to  trace  the  interaction  between  the 
environment  and  the  material  acted  upon,  we 
must  note  what  occurs  when  that  environment 


EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY    123 

begins  to  act  for  the  first  time ;  what  happens 
when,  for  the  first  time,  the  material  comes  into 
that  environment  ?  What  acquirements  are  made 
in  response,  if  any  ?  What  variations  can  be 
naturally  selected  which  will  enable  man  to 
evolve  towards  perfection  ?  What  innate  ten- 
dencies has  he,  by  means  of  which  he  is  enabled 
to  preserve  his  physical  existence  in  the  face  of 
threatened  destruction  ?  How  does  he  progress 
under  these  circumstances  ?  These  are  the 
questions  to  be  answered,  and  the  facts  bearing 
upon  them  must  be  carefully  considered. 

If,  then,  tuberculosis  be  introduced  amongst  a 
race  as  a  new  disease,  it  acts  as  a  strong  agent  of 
selection,  killing^,  large  proportion  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  only  ^reason  why  all  are  not  destroyed 
is  because  there  are  some  who  have  a  higher 
degree  of  innate  natural  resistance  than  others. 
In  other  words,  the  fittest — in  this  case  those  most 
resistant  to  tuberculosis — survive.  Now,  this 
resisting  power  of  the  survivors  is  an  inborn  trait, 
and.therefore,  is  hereditary;  and, as  these  survivors 
form  the  majority  of  the  population  after  the 
disease  has  carried  off  the  less  resistant,  it  follows 
that  the  next  generation  is  born  more  resistant 
to  this  condition.  This  process  of  selection,  being 
repeated  generation  after  generation,  in  time 
evolves  a  race  very  highly  resistant  to  tuber- 
culosis, because  born  of  parents  who  in  each 
generation  are  more  immune  than  their  immediate 
predecessors.  Such  a  race  in  course  of  time  is 


124         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

enabled  to  resist  this  infection  even  when  living 
in  cities  and  towns — in  slums,  ill-ventilated  and 
worse  lighted — conditions  under  which  none  but 
the  most  resistant  individuals  could  hope  to 
escape.  Such  conditions  form  natural  breeding 
places  for  disease  of  this  type,  and,  were  it  not  for 
the  process  just  described,  no  race  could  possibly 
live  under  them. 

It  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  that  the 
presence  of  infectious  disease  causes  racial  deterio- 
ration. There  could  be  no  greater  mistake.  The 
exact  contrary  is  the  case.  Doubtless  disease 
causes  individual  deterioration,  but  this  is  followed 
by  unrelenting  selection — the  elimination  of  the 
unfit  individual  for  the  benefit  of  the  race.  It 
may  seem  cruel,  but  it  is  nature's  method.  It 
may  be  worth  while  to  note,  just  in  passing,  what 
would  happen  were  the  erroneous  popular  idea 
correct.  Suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  infectious 
disease  produced  racial  deterioration  in  the 
direction  of  increased  susceptibility  in  succeeding 
generations  ;  then  it  would  follow,  as  the  night 
the  day,  that  in  course  of  time  the  race  would 
perish.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  history  of  all 
infectious  disease  bears  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
contrary.  In  fact,  it  may  be  stated  as  a  law  of 
immunity  that  any  race  is  resistant  to  any  infec- 
tious disease  precisely  in  proportion  to  its  past 
experience  of  it.  So  it  is  that,  by  continued 
elimination  of  the  most  susceptible,  each  suc- 
cessive generation  becomes  more  and  more 


EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY  125 

resistant,  and  the  more  ruthlessly  severe  the 
eliminating  process  the  more  quickly  will  im- 
munity be  attained.  The  individual  perishes  ; 
the  race  survives. 

We  can  now  understand  the  reason  why  modern 
Anglo-Saxons  can  and  do  live  and  multiply  under 
conditions  which  would  wipe  out  any  savage 
tribe  amongst  whom  such  disease  had  not  previ- 
ously appeared,  and  in  whom,  therefore,  there 
had  been  no  evolution  of  natural  resistance. 
Thus,  since  cities  are  the  inevitable  accom- 
paniment of  modern  civilisation,  those  races  only 
can  ever  become"  civilised  who  can  thus  evolve. 
In  tuberculosis  the  individual  does  not  acquire 
a  high  degree  of  immunity  after  an  attack  ;  in- 
deed, he  is  apt  to  become  more  susceptible  to 
further  infection ;  hence,  those  only  with  the 
higher  degree  of  inborn  resistance  can  ultimately 
survive  in  the  struggle  against  this  universal 
disease.  Evolution,  then,  here  produces  in  course 
of  time,  by  natural  selection,  a  race  possessed  of 
a  high  capacity  of  natural  resistance  to  infection, 
or  inborn  immunity. 

It  would  unduly  burden  our  argument  at  this 
stage  were  we  to  quote  here  all  the  evidence 
which  has  been  collected  from  various  sources  in 
support  of  the  facts  which  inevitably  lead  to  the 
above  conclusions.  The  reader  is,  therefore,  re- 
ferred to  Dr  Archdall  Reid's  books  on  Heredity, 
in  which  he  deals  fully  with  the  evidence  on  the 
subject.  In  the  meantime,  it  is  advisable  to 


126         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

consider  at  once  the  second  type  of  diseases  which 
have  left  their  mark  on  the  evolution  of  races, 
of  which  measles  may  be  taken  as  a  striking 
example. 

In  our  own  country  at  the  present  day,  measles 
is  considered  a  disease  of  quite  trifling  import- 
ance, for  the  simple  reason  that,  apart  from  any 
complications  which  may  follow,  practically  all 
who  take  it  recover  from  the  infection  and 
remain  afterwards  immune  throughout  their  life- 
time. That  is  the  general  rule.  In  other  words, 
here  is  an  infectious  disease,  widespread,  to  which 
the  British  race  has,  by  some  means  or  other, 
evolved  a  capacity  to  recover.  The  question  is — 
How  has  this  been  brought  about  ? 

Once  more,  in  order  to  understand  this  pheno- 
menon, we  must  appeal  to  history  and  observe 
what  has  occurred  when  measles  has  been  intro- 
duced amongst  races  or  peoples  to  whom  it  was 
hitherto  unknown.  The  first  thing  that  strikes 
one  in  reading  the  accounts  of  such  epidemics  is 
their  appalling  severity,  estimated  by  the  terrible 
death-rate.  In  other  words,  it  is  quite  obvious 
that,  previous  to  its  introduction,  the  resisting 
power  of  such  races  was  extremely  feeble.  The 
proportion  of  deaths  in  such  circumstances  has 
varied  from  nearly  one-third  to  one-twentieth 
of  the  total  population.  The  survivors,  of  course, 
have  been  those  who  were  fortunate  enough  to 
possess  a  greater  power  of  recovery  from  this 
infection.  This  power  is  an  inborn  character, 


EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY  127 

and  is,  therefore,  transmitted  by  heredity  to  their 
offspring,  so  that  the  next  generation  starts  with 
a  greater  average  capacity  for  recovery  against 
measles  than  had  the  former.  As  time  goes  on, 
successive  epidemics  continue  to  weed  out  the 
least  resistant,  leaving  only  those  who  are  able 
to  recover,  until  at  last,  in  the  course  of  centuries 
perhaps,  once  more  we  see  a  result  of  this  stringent 
natural  selection  of  the  fittest,  namely,  a  race  in 
whom  almost  all  the  individuals  are  born  with 
a  capacity  of  recovery  from  this  particular  in- 
fection. The  interesting  point  in  this  connection 
is,  that  the  individuals  still  remain  susceptible 
to  the  infection.  We  all  get  measles  still,  but 
very  few  of  us  die  from  it.  So  that  in  this  case 
what  has  been  evolved  is,  not  the  power  of  re- 
sisting infection — as  was  the  case  in  tuberculosis 
— but  the  capacity  of  recovery  from  infection.  We 
shall  never  become  immune  to  the  infection  of 
measles  ;  but  any  race  constantly  exposed  to  this 
infection  will  become,  as  we  have  already  become, 
immune  to  its  results. 

We  may,  therefore,  state  as  our  first  conclusion 
with  regard  to  this  matter,  that — 

A.  Physical  immunity  is  evolved  in  races  as 
the  result  of  the  elimination  of  the  unfit ;  this 
producing  either  immunity  to  infection,  or  the 
capacity  of  recovery,  according  to  the  type  of 
disease  concerned. 

B.  The    immunity  to    the    infection,   or   the 
capacity  of  recovery,  in  any  race,  is  in  pro- 


128         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

portion  to  the  past  experience  of  that  race  to 
the  disease  in  question. 

Having  thus  stated  the  broad  conclusions  as 
briefly  as  possible,  there  are  some  further  interest- 
ing and  important  points  bearing  upon  the  above 
argument  which  may  be  noticed  in  this  con- 
nection. 

In  addition  to  the  universal  natural  resistance 
to  disease  possessed  by  all  in  greater  or  less  degree, 
we  observe  that  after  recovery  from  some  particu- 
lar diseases,  smallpox  for  example,  an  individual 
has  acquired  an  immunity  to  that  special  con- 
dition which  he  did  not  possess  before  the  attack. 
Moreover,  this  acquired  immunity  lasts  for  a 
considerable  time,  in  some  cases  for  life — as  is 
usually  the  case  in  smallpox.  Measles  and 
scarlet  fever  similarly  confer  this  immunity  from 
their  special  infection  after  a  patient  recovers.  A 
second  attack  is  very  rare.  This  is  obviously 
quite  a  different  thing  from  the  natural  resistance 
first  spoken  of,  which  protects  to  a  certain  degree 
against  all  infection,  but  not  to  a  great  extent 
against  any.  But  here,  in  the  acquired  immunity, 
the  patient  has  to  suffer  first  from  the  infectious 
condition  ;  and  during  his  suffering  he  undergoes 
a  reaction  in  his  system,  as  the  result  of  which  he 
is  in  future  immune,  safe,  protected,  from  any 
further  attack  of  that  same  infection.  He  is  just 
as  liable  as  before  to  other  infections,  indeed,  he 
may  be  more  so ;  but  to  the  specific  infection 
from  which  he  has  recovered  he  is  absolutely  or 


EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY   129 

partially  immune.  We  shall  see  that  precisely 
the  same  phenomenon  may  be  observed  in  con- 
nection with  harmful  agencies  other  than  disease 
infections. 

The  recognition  of  this  natural  process  came  to 
man  slowly,  as  far  as  we  know.  At  any  rate,  it 
was  not  until  comparatively  recent  times  that 
men  began  to  study  the  question  and  see  how 
they  could  use  it  to  their  own  advantage.  In 
fact,  the  conception  of  acquired  immunity  seems 
to  have  first  shaped  itself  with  clearness  in  the 
minds  of  physicians  when  they  saw  the  results 
of  recovery  from  smallpox.  The  thought  then 
occurred  to  some — "  Since  acquired  immunity 
results  from  recovery  in  this  disease,  why  not  try 
and  confer  it  artificially  !  "  So  they  inoculated 
people  with  the  virulent  contents  of  the  smallpox 
pustule,  in  the  hope  that  those  thus  treated  would 
acquire  immunity.  So  they  did — */  they  recovered. 
But  they  went  through  the  danger  of  death  from 
smallpox  first,  and,  in  addition,  became  sources 
of  fresh  infection  for  others  for  a  time  ;  and  large 
numbers  died  from  the  inoculation,  because  their 
power  of  natural  resistance  was  insufficient  to 
cope  with  the  disease. 

Then  the  law  stepped  in  and  made  this  process 
illegal ;  it  was  too  risky,  too  many  went  under. 
Those  who  survived  were  safe,  but  they  were  too 
few  to  make  the  process  available  as  a  general 
mode  of  treatment.  In  a  word,  it  is  not  justifiable 
to  give  individuals  deadly  diseases  on  the  chance 
i 


130         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

that  they  will  recover  and  become  immune — too 
many  perish  in  the  process.  It  is  nature's 
method  ;  but  it  is  too  cruel  for  adoption  in  lands 
which  have  come  under  the  influence  of  Christian 
ethics. 

Then  came  the  tremendous  discovery  that 
acquired  immunity  could  be  conferred  upon 
individuals  without  their  undergoing  the  actual 
deadly  disease  itself,  but  simply  by  undergoing 
a  closely  allied  condition  which  was  not  dangerous 
to  life.  Jenner's  discovery  that  vaccinia  pro- 
tects from  smallpox  showed  the  way  to  the 
application  of  this  principle.  A  few  days  dis- 
comfort was  sufficient  for  the  patient  to  acquire 
an  immunity  which  protected  him,  if  not  for  life, 
at  any  rate  for  some  years  ;  and  the  value  of  the 
process  was  so  enormous  that  civilised  states  soon 
made  it  compulsory  upon  their  peoples  to  undergo 
this  treatment,  and  the  most  scientific  nations 
demand  that  it  shall  be  repeated  as  often  as  it  is 
necessary  to  keep  up  the  immunity. 

And  so,  by  gradual  patient  investigation, 
science  discovered  more  and  more  perfect  methods 
of  conferring  this  acquired  specific  immunity  for 
various  diseases,  until,  at  the  present  time,  a 
stage  has  been  reached  in  which  no  disease  at  all, 
not  even  a  modified  form,  is  given  to  the  patient, 
but  in  which  the  substances  conferring  the  im- 
munity are  manufactured  ready  for  use  in  other 
animals,  and  injected  straight  into  the  patient  in 
the  form  of  an  "  antitoxic  serum."  This  is  an 


EVOLUTION  O^  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY    131 

immense  step  forwards,  because  a  serum  can"  be 
used  as  a  curative  agent  to  save  life  after  the 
disease  has  attacked  the  patient,  whereas  the  other 
methods  are  only  preventive,  and  must  be  used 
before  the  patient  is  infected.  The  advantage  of 
the  immunity  which  comes  from  recovery  from 
disease  is  that  it  is  lasting  in  its  effect,  often 
permanent ;  the  disadvantage  is  that  it  takes  time 
to  acquire.  The  advantage  of  immunity  acquired 
by  inoculation  of  a  serum  is  that  it  is  conferred 
immediately  on  injection,  and  is,  therefore,  avail- 
able as  a  curative  agent ;  its  disadvantage  is  that 
the  effect  is  temporary,  not  lasting.  Repeated 
doses  are  necessary  to  protect  from  repeated 
infections,  in  this  method  ;  but  the  process  is 
certain  and  safe,  and  the  supply  of  antitoxic  serum 
unlimited — for  those  conditions  in  which  a  serum 
has  been  discovered. 

So  much  for  the  principal  facts  in  connection 
with  immunity  to  disease.  The  whole  matter 
will  perhaps  be  more  clear,  and  more  convenient 
for  purposes  of  reference,  if  these  facts  be  sum- 
marised in  tabular  form  as  follows  : — 

IMMUNITY 
I.  Natural  Resistance  or  Innate  Immunity 

Common  to  all  in  some  degree. 
Varies  with  individuals,  species,  and  nations. 
Can  be  increased  by  certain  treatment. 
Cannot  be  transferred  from  one  to  another. 


132         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

2.  Specific  Immunity  or  Acquired  Immunity 

A.  As  the  result  of  recovery  from  specific  disease, 

seen  in  smallpox,  measles,  scarlet  fever. 
Lasting. 

B.  As  the  result  of  specific  treatment  artifically — 

(1)  By  protective  inoculation  with  virulent 

living  infective  agents ;  as  in  in- 
oculation from  a  case  of  smallpox 
to  a  healthy  person.  Now  illegal 
— too  dangerous. 

(2)  By     protective    inoculation    with    a 

weakened  living  infective  agent,  the 
agent  being  weakened  in  various 
ways.  Example.  —  Vaccinia,  the 
agent  made  weak  by  passing  through 
another  animal.  Fairly  lasting — 
some  years  at  least.  Preventive. 

(3)  By  transferring  the  blood  serum  from 

individuals  which  have  been  made 
immune   themselves.      Result,   im- 
mediate, but  temporary.    Antitoxic. 
Curative. 
There  are  other  processes  which  have  been  used 

to  confer  immunity  to  disease,  but  the  above  are 

sufficient  for  the  present  purpose.1 

1  It  will,  of  course,  be  distinctly  understood  that  in  this 
chapter  we  are  not  concerned  in  any  way  with  the  political 
aspect  of  such  questions  as  Vaccination  or  Vivisection,  which 
aspects  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  point  at  issue. 
It  matters  nothing  to  the  argument  advanced  whether  it 


EVOLUTION  OF  PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY    133 

be  right  or  wrong  to  use  vivisections!  or  any  other  methods 
to  obtain  a  curative  serum,  the  sole  point  being  that  immunity 
can  be  produced  by  certain  artificial  methods,  as  well  as  by 
recovery  from  infectious  disease.  The  ethical  aspect  of  these 
facts  is  not  under  consideration  ;  it  is  the  facts  themselves 
to  which  attention  is  directed.  Immunity  can  be  attained 
in  various  ways  ;  that  is  our  whole  point  at  present. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM 

PASSING  now  from  the  consideration  of  zymotic 
disease  as  a  factor  in  the  evolution  of  immunity, 
and  omitting  much  additional  evidence  which 
might  be  adduced  from  other  diseases,  such  as 
malaria — all  of  which  evidence  only  lends  more 
strength  to  our  argument — we  may  next  turn  our 
attention  to  another  terrible  agent  of  elimination 
— Alcohol. 

We  are  searching  for  universal  principles,  laws 
which  act  upon  man  in  every  phase  of  his  exist- 
ence, and  up  to  the  present  we  have  studied 
briefly  one  of  the  agents  which  has  obviously  been 
an  extremely  potent  one  in  his  evolution,  namely, 
disease.  We  find  that  its  result  to  man  is  ex- 
pres^ed  in  the  laws  of  immunity — laws  of  such  a 
wide  biological  significance  that  one  cannot  but 
suspect  them  of  equally  wide  application. 
Whether  or  not  that  suspicion  be  well  founded  will 
appear  after  we  shall  have  studied  agencies  other 
than  disease. 

We,  therefore, next  consider  the  case  of  narcotics, 
because  these  are  agents  to  the  effects  of  which 
many  millions  of  human  beings  subject  them- 

IM 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM       135 

selves ;  and  first  we  take  alcohol,  a  narcotic 
which,  as  an  agent  of  the  elimination  of  certain 
individuals,  is  quite  as  potent  and  just  as  much 
selective  as  any  infectious  disease.  Just  as  in  the 
sphere  of  disease,  so  here,  certain  individuals 
survive  while  others  perish.  But  there  is  an  all- 
important  difference  in  the  two  cases.  In  the  case 
of  disease  we  have  already  seen  in  the  previous 
chapter  that  the  qualities  which  determine 
survival  or  death  are  either  inborn,  or  acquired, 
physical  characteristics.  That  is  to  say,  those 
who  survived  the  infection  of  measles,  for  example, 
were  those  in  whose  bodies  and  tissues  there  was 
some  physiological  or  chemical  process  possible, 
in  virtue  of  which  they  were  the  survivors.  "  But 
the  choice  made  by  narcotics  is  determined 
primarily  not  by  the  physical  but  by  the  mental 
character  of  the  person  selected.  The  man  who 
dies  from  alcohol  or  opium  is  not  necessarily  one 
who  is  especially  liable  to  be  injured  physically 
by  excessive  indulgence.  He  is  always  one  to 
whom  the  sensations  produced  by  excessive 
drinking  are  especially  delightful.  His  drinking 
habits,  and,  therefore,  his  elimination,  are  deter- 
mined, not  by  peculiarities  of  body,  but  by 
peculiarities  of  mind."  1 

Once  more,  the  utter  impossibility  of  drawing 
a  hard-and-fast  line  between  the  physical  and 
the  non-physical  or  mental  is  obvious  ;  we  can 
only  use  the  terms  in  their  ordinary  acceptation. 

1 '  Principles  of  Heredity.'     Dr  Archdall  Reid,  p.  189. 


136         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

The  writer  just  quoted  points  out  that  there  are 
at  least  three  motives  which  induce  men  to  take 
alcohol.  "  In  the  first  place  men  drink  to  satisfy 
thirst.  When  the  percentage  of  water,  an  organic 
constituent  of  their  bodies,  falls  below  the  normal, 
they  seek  instinctively  to  supply  the  deficiency. 
When  possible  they  flavour  the  water  in  various 
ways,  as  by  tea,  coffee,  or  alcohol.  Secondly, 
men  drink  to  gratify  taste.  They  seek  to  produce 
a  pleasant  sensation  by  exciting  the  peripheral 
nerve-endings  in  the  mouth.  Their  motives  are 
then  precisely  the  same  as  those  which  animate 
a  girl  who  consumes  a  chocolate-cream.  Thirdly, 
men  drink  to  induce  those  peculiar  feelings,  those 
peculiar  frames  of  mind,  which  arise  when  alcohol, 
circulating  in  greater  or  lesser  quantities  in  the 
blood,  acts  directly  on  the  central  nervous  system. 

"  Clearly,  these  three  motives  are  entirely 
distinct ;  and  upon  examination  it  will  be  found 
that  they  impel  to  the  consumption  of  three 
distinct  classes  of  beverages  by  three  distinct 
classes  of  individuals.  For  the  thirsty  man  the 
water  is  the  main  consideration  ;  he  takes  the 
alcohol  merely  to  improve  the  taste  of  his  drink. 
For  the  connoisseur  the  flavour  is  the  mam  con- 
consideration  ;  the  water  and  the  alcohol  are 
used  merely  to  improve  the  flavour.  For  the 
toper  the  cerebral  effect  is  the  main  object ;  so 
long  as  his  beverage  contains  alcohol  he  will  drink 
even  when  he  is  not  thirsty,  and  when  the  flavour  of 
his  beverage  is  disagreeable." 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM       137 

"  Of  course  the  three  motives  may,  and  often 
do,  co-exist  in  the  same  individual.  A  man  may 
seek  at  one  and  the  same  time  to  satisfy  his  thirst, 
to  gratify  his  taste,  and  to  become  drunk.  Or  in 
the  beginning  of  his  drinking  career  he  may  drink 
alcoholic  beverages  mainly  to  satisfy  his  thirst, 
later  to  gratify  his  palate,  and  lastly  for  the  sake 
of  intoxication.  But  the  fact  remains  that  the 
three  motives  are  quite  distinct,  and  that  in  the 
mind  of  any  given  drinker  one  or  other  of  them 
usually  predominates,  and  impels  him,  when  he 
has  a  choice, to  choose  a  certain  class  of  beverage. 
The  thirsty  man  chooses  diluted  beverages.  The 
man  who  seeks  to  gratify  his  palate  chooses 
especially  well-flavoured  beverages.  The  toper, 
when  he  has  a  choice,  chooses  sufficiently  strong 
beverages,  though,  of  course,  he  prefers  them  well- 
flavoured  if  possible.  By  themselves,  thirst  and 
taste  are  never  the  causes  of  excessive  drinking. 
Instinct  warns  the  thirsty  man  when  he  has  had 
a  sufficiency  of  water.  It  takes  from  him  his 
desire.  A  glass  or  two  of  wine,  like  an  ounce  or 
two  of  chocolate,  tends,  also,  to  cloy  the  palate  of 
the  connoisseur.  In  effect,  the  drunkard  is 
always  one  to  whom  the  mental  effects  of  alcohol 
acting  directly  on  the  brain  is  delightful.  Our 
concern  is  with  him  alone." 

It  might  be  quite  possible  to  add  other  motives 
to  the  list  of  the  three  above  enumerated,  and  some 
there  may  be  who  would  be  inclined  to  question 
whether  the  mental  effects  of  alcohol  acting 


138         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

directly  on  the  brain  are  invariably  a  delight  to 
the  drunkard  ;  but  of  this  there  can  be  no  question, 
that,  delightful  or  not,  they  are  effects  to  which 
the  drinker  becomes  more  and  more  susceptible 
up  to  a  point — effects  the  desire  for  which  he 
becomes  less  and  less  able  to  control.  No  matter 
how  he  suffer  afterwards,  he  is  no  sooner  free  from 
them,  than  once  more  he  is  consumed  with  the 
desire  for  their  renewal — which  is  very  nearly  say- 
ing that  to  him  they  are  a  delight.  At  any  rate, 
they  are  a  something  which  he  will  not,  or  cannot, 
do  without ;  they  constitute  a  state  of  mind  which 
becomes  to  him  a  necessity. 

Now  the  correct  analysis  of  this  question  is  of 
such  great  importance  to  the  development  of  our 
argument  in  favour  of  the  universal  application 
of  the  laws  of  immunity  to  every  phase  of  man's 
existence,  that  we  make  no  apology  for  quoting 
here  at  length  the  following  passages  from  Dr 
Archdall  Reid's  book,  passages  which  are  written 
from  an  entirely  different  standpoint,  and  with 
the  view  of  proving  quite  another  contention. 
That  very  fact  makes  them  all  the  more  valuable 
to  us  here.  The  author  of  "  The  Principles  of 
Heredity,"  then,  goes  on  to  say  (page  192)  : — 

"  This  mental  effect  varies  in  quantity  and 
quality  with  the  amount  of  alcohol  drunk,  and  with 
the  individual  who  drinks  it.  A  given  amount 
of  alcohol,  which  produces  deep  intoxication  in  one 
individual,  may  leave  another  comparatively 
unaffected,  or  it  may  render  one  person  morose, 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM       139 

a  second  genial,  a  third  merely  stupid  and  sleepy, 
and  so  forth.  Probably  most  people  are  capable 
of  enjoying  some  quantity  of  alcohol ;  that  is, 
some  quantity  of  alcohol,  when  circulating  in  the 
blood,  awakens  pleasant  sensations  in  the  minds 
of  most  people.  But  just  as  people  vary  as 
regards  every  other  physical  and  mental  character, 
so  they  vary  as  regards  the  quantity  of  alcohol 
they  enjoy  most,  and  in  the  degree  of  their 
enjoyment  of  it.  A  very  little  alcohol  easily 
satisfies  some  people,  and  their  craving  for  even 
that  small  quantity  may  be  very  weak.  Others 
desire  a  large  quantity,  and  their  longing  for  it 
may  be  the  strongest  emotion  of  which  they  are 
capable. 

"It  is  necessary  to  insist  on  this  distinction. 
In  most  writings  on  the  subject  it  is  assumed  that 
drunkards  and  temperate  men  differ  mainly  as 
regards  their  powers  of  self-control.  The  as- 
sumption is  very  flattering  to  the  self-esteem  of 
those  who  make  it,  but  it  is  certainly  erroneous, 
as  any  moderate  drinker  may  ascertain  at  the 
cost  of  a  little  observation  and  introspection. 
What  is  it  that  keeps  him  temperate  ?  Self- 
control  !  But  self-control  implies  something 
controlled  in  the  self — the  craving  for  drunkenness. 
All  drunkards  have  the  craving  very  strongly 
developed.  If  then  the  mental  difference  between 
the  drunkard  and  the  moderate  man  lies  mainly 
in  their  powers  of  self-control,  we  must  assume 
that  all  moderate  men  pass  through  life  vehemently 


140         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

longing  for  intoxication,  but  strenuously  resisting 
the  craving  for  it.  The  assumption  is  a  monstrous 
one.  Let  the  reader,  if  he  be  a  moderate  drinker, 
judge  from  his  own  case.  Is  he  the  victim  of  this 
tremendous  craving  ?  Do  the  majority  of  his 
intimates  manifest  it  ? 

"  Many  drunkards  are  men  of  strong  wills,  and 
many  of  them  have  a  strong  desire  to  be  sober. 
They  fail  because  their  craving  for  intoxication  is 
yet  stronger.  On  the  other  hand,  many  sober  men 
are  of  weak  will-power.  They  are  temperate 
because  their  desire  for  excessive  indulgence  is 
yet  weaker.  Many  men — "  men  of  pleasure," 
for  instance — devote  their  lives  to  self-indulgence  ; 
but  this  form  of  self-indulgence  does  not  appeal 
to  them.  It  is  unbelievable  that  such  people 
spend  their  lives  valiantly  resisting  exceedingly 
urgent  temptation.  No  doubt  many  moderate 
men  exercise  a  certain  amount  of  self-control. 
Warned  by  unpleasant  experience  they  drink  less 
than  they  would  otherwise  do.  They  are  easily 
able  to  exercise  the  necessary  restraint,  because 
theyare  not  driven  by  their  desires  as  by  a  tempest. 
It  is  this  comparatively  small  amount  of  self- 
control  exercised  by  people  of  this  class  that  has 
given  rise  to  the  fiction  that  a  man  is  sober  or 
drunken  mainly  because  he  does,  or  does  not, 
exercise  self-control. 

"  The  truth  is  that  most  men  and  women  who 
drink  at  all,  and  can  afford  it,  take  alcohol  more  in 
porportion  to  their  desires  than  in  proportion  to 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM       141 

their  lack  of  self-control.  One  may  observe  this 
every  day  at  dinner.  As  a  rule,  the  people  one 
meets  there  are  manifestly  not  under  the  influence 
of  strong  temptation.  They  take  as  much 
alcohol  as  they  are  inclined  for.  More  would  be 
unpleasant,  or  at  least  not  very  pleasant,  to  them. 
Indeed  it  is  hardly  possible  for  a  man  who  is 
strongly  tempted  by  alcohol  to  be  a  moderate 
drinker.  The  human  will  is  not  strong  enough 
to  resist  a  passion  so  overmastering  when  it  is 
continually  fed  by  small  indulgences.  Such  men 
must,  as  a  rule,  be  drunkards  or  total  abstainers. 
"  It  is  not  intended  to  deny  the  merits  of  self- 
control.  Beyond  doubt  many  a  man  is  now  an 
abstainer  because  he  had  the  resolution  and 
courage  to  exercise  self-control.  Indeed  it  is 
probable  that  most  men,  even  habitual  drunkards, 
exercise  some  restraint  and  drink  less  than  they 
otherwise  would.  The  essential  thing  is,  not 
that  men  do  not  exercise  restraint,  but  that 
different  men  are  so  constituted  mentally  that 
they  differ  vastly  in  the  strength  of  their  desires, 
in  the  strength  of  their  cravings  for  intoxication, 
and  that,  as  a  rule,  drinkers  are  drunken  or 
temperate,  not  mainly  because  they  exercise  less 
or  more  self-control,  but  mainly  because  they  are 
more  or  less  tempted.  Abstainers  form  a  class  by 
themselves  ;  they  are  not  exposed  to  the  same 
extent  to  what  may  become  very  urgent  tempta- 
tion. Of  drinkers,  it  is  certain  that  most  if  not  all 
moderate  men  are  so  constituted  that  their 


142         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

desires  are  comparatively  weak.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  all  drunkards  are  so  constituted  that 
their  desires  are  very  strong.  No  man,  unless 
he  were  strongly  tempted,  would  systematically 
and  regularly  take  doses  of  poison,  which,  besides 
entailing  upon  him  a  multitude  of  other  evil 
consequences,  make  him  feel  very  ill  a  few  hours 
afterwards. 

"  Within  limits,  the  passion  for  alcohol  grows 
with  indulgence.  But  here,  again,  men  vary. 
The  growth  is  more  rapid  and  extensive  in  some 
individuals  than  in  others.  A  course  of  indulgence 
which  leaves  one  man  almost  indifferent  to  the 
charm  of  drink,  will  fill  another  with  furious 
desires.  After  a  more  or  less  prolonged  experi- 
ence of  alcohol,  many  men  learn  fairly  accurately 
the  amount  of  alcohol  which  will  produce  the 
mental  state  that  is  most  pleasant  to  them.  With 
such  men,  who  constitute  the  majority  of  moderate 
drinkers,  the  growth  of  the  craving  does  not 
continue  indefinitely.  Having  learned  the  limit, 
they  are  able  to  stay  within  it  without  much 
effort  or  difficulty.  Other  men  never  reach  the 
limit  of  growth.  Their  tendency  is  always  to 
drink  to  deep  intoxication  ;  to  drink  to  the  point 
of  coma.  Between  the  two  extremes  lie  all  shades 
of  drinkers. 

"  Men  differ,  therefore,  in  their  susceptibility 
to  the  charm  of  alcohol,  and,  as  a  rule,  indulge  in  it 
in  proportion  to  their  desires.  As  might  reason- 
ably be  expected,  those  who  are  most  tempted 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM       143 

succumb,  on  the  average,  most  and  oftenest  to 
temptation." 

Thus  far  Dr  Archdall  Reid  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  his  most  remarkable  and  thought- 
inspiring  book.  What  does  all  this  mean  to  us  ? 
What  is  its  bearing  in  the  making  of  a  man  or  a 
race  ? 

It  is  surely  unnecessary  to  labour  to  prove  here 
the  great  mortality  from  the  indulgence  in 
alcohol.  In  many  it  is  a  physical  disease,  the 
tendency  to  which  is  inherited  ;  in  others,  it  is 
a  mental  or  moral  disease.  The  fact  that  it 
constitutes  a  large  factor  in  the  mortality  of  the 
country  has  been  proclaimed  from  every  platform, 
sociological,  religious,  political,  and  scientific ; 
and  the  statistics  of  insurance  companies  bear  their 
eloquent  testimony.  If  we  include  the  infant 
mortality  due  to  the  carelessness  and  ignorance 
and  neglect  of  drunken  parents — an  indirect 
effect,  then  the  number  of  individuals  eliminated 
by  alcohol  must  be  tremendous,  probably  greater 
than  that  from  tuberculosis.  Moreover,  the 
elimination  as  in  the  case  of  infective  disease,  is 
stringently  selective,  leaving  comparatively 
untouched  those  to  whom  alcoholic  indulgence 
presents  no  charm,  and  eliminating  with  ruthless 
hand  those  who  by  inherited  tendency  or  acquired 
susceptibility  fall  beneath  its  powerful  sway. 

Here  and  there  an  individual  is  encountered 
who  has  passed  through  the  terrible  experience 
and  has  come  out,  after  a  longer  or  shorter  period, 


144         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

immune.  He  is  as  a  man  who  has  been  at  death's 
door  from  smallpox,  but  has  escaped ;  and  so 
awful  has  been  the  experience  that  he  is  never 
again  a  victim.  Such  cases  do  occur  (the  present 
writer  could  point  to  several),  but  they  are  rare  ; 
and,  just  as  the  law,  because  of  the  great  danger 
to  his  own  life  and  to  the  community,  made  it 
illegal  to  give  a  healthy  person  smallpox  in  the 
hope  of  his  recovering  and  acquiring  immunity ; 
so,  in  the  case  of  alcohol,  it  is  morally  unjustifiable 
to  place  all  and  sundry  under  the  influence  of  this 
agent,  in  the  hope  that  some  will  survive  and 
become  immune.  Too  many  go  under  in  the 
struggle,  in  both  cases.  It  is  what  nature  has 
been  doing  for  centuries,  and  is  doing  now,  with 
results  similar  to  those  observed  in  other  causes 
of  elimination.  Great  numbers  of  susceptible  in- 
dividuals are  weeded  out,  leaving  the  continuance 
of  the  race  to  the  more  resistant  or  less  susceptible, 
so  that  alcohol,  like  disease,  brings  about  in  a 
people  protective  evolution.  The  longer  any 
nation  is  exposed  to  its  eliminating  hand,  the  more 
resistant  and  the  less  drunken  will  that  nation  be. 
A  lessened  susceptibility  is  the  only  change 
alcoholic  selection  makes  in  the  hereditary 
tendencies  of  the  race.  Fewer  and  fewer  fall 
victims  as  time  goes  on,  in  contrast  to  the  awful 
havoc  played  amongst  a  people  to  whom  it  is 
first  introduced.  The  race  becomes  immune, 
but  the  susceptible  individuals  perish.  The  con- 
verse idea,  namely,  that  alcohol  causes  racial 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM        145 

degeneration,  is  a  popular  delusion  precisely 
analagous  to  that  pointed  out  in  connection  with 
disease.  Were  it  true,  those  peoples  who  have 
used  alcohol  longest  should  be  the  most  drunken, 
instead  of  which  they  are  the  least  so.  It  is  the 
races  to  whom  it  comes  freshly  that  suffer,  until 
they  have  eliminated  from  their  number  the  least 
'  fit.'  "  Those  savages,  and  those  only,  who  have 
had  little  or  no  experience  of  alcohol,  Esquimaux, 
Red  Indians,  Patagonians,  Terra  del  Fuegians, 
Australian  Blacks — are  beyond  all  the  peoples 
the  most  drunken  on  earth  "  (Reid). 

But  apart  from  any  ethnological  or  sociological 
matters  of  argument  which  may  arise  in  this 
question,  the  plain  great  fact  is  outstanding — and 
it  is  that  to  which  attention  is  directed  here — 
that,  in  the  case  of  alcohol  as  in  that  of  disease, 
its  results  are  in  accordance  with  the  established 
laws  of  immunity.  The  result  to  the  individual 
is  a  matter  of  susceptibility  or  resisting  power 
inborn  or  acquired.  If  sober,  he  is  nearly  always 
so  in  virtue  of  his  comparative  immunity  to 
temptation,  i.e.  infection.  More  rarely  he  is  so 
in  virtue  of  having  acquired  immunity  after 
recovery.  The  law  is  the  same  as,  not  analagous 
to,  that  seen  elsewhere. 

Stated  thus,  it  may  to  some  seem  unfamiliar, 
and  if  so,  our  advice  to  such  as  doubt  it  is  to  test 
the  truth  of  all  the  above  statements  and  quota- 
tions as  far  as  individuals  are  concerned,  by 
carrying  out  an  enquiry  (as  the  writer  has  person- 

K 


146         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

ally  done  in  the  past  few  years)  over  a  sufficiently 
large  number  of  persons,  putting  the  following 
questions  : — 

(1)  Are  you  a  sober  or  temperate  man  ? 

(2)  If  so,  is  it  a  matter  of  constant  hard  struggle 
for  you  to  maintain  your  sobriety  ? 

In  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  if  the  answer  to 
the  first  question  is  '  Yes,'  that  to  the  second  is 
emphatically  '  No/  Let  every  honest  and  truth- 
ful reader  put  and  answer  the  question  to,  and  for 
himself.  One  individual  to  whom  these  queries 
were  addressed  writes  thus  : — 

"  The  question  of  alcoholism  has  never  come 
to  me  in  this  light  before.  I  have  always  prided 
myself  upon  my  sobriety  and  thought  I  must  be 
rather  a  fine  fellow  ;  and  not  only  so,  my  family 
and  friends  have  for  years  held  me  up  as  an 
example  of  a  model  young  man,  because  I  was 
never  drunk.  Your  question  shows  me  that  I 
have  been  entirely  mistaken.  I  realise  fully  now 
that  to  me  alcohol  is  no  temptation  at  all.  I  do  not 
care  for  it  in  the  least.  Indeed,  except  in  the 
smallest  quantities,  I  dislike  both  it  and  its  effects. 
Were  it  not  for  social  customs  I  should  never  touch 
it.  As  it  is,  I  take  a  glass  of  wine,  or  beer,  or 
spirits,  without  any  special  enjoyment  and  with- 
out the  least  desire  for  excessive  indulgence.  On 
the  few  occasions  upon  which  I  have  had  more  than 
one  or  two  drinks  I  have  invariably  felt  it  a 
positive  effort  to  take  them,  and  am  perfectly 
certain  that  had  I  gone  on  I  should  have  become 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM        147 

ill  long  before  I  became  intoxicated.  I  realise 
now,  that  it  is  no  credit  to  me  to  have  lived  a 
sober  life,  any  more  than  it  is  to  my  credit  that  I 
am  not  gouty.  I  am  as  free  from  the  one  tendency 
as  the  other.  Would  I  could  say  the  same  for 
all  forms  of  temptation  !  " 

Quite  so.  The  writer  of  the  above  has  indeed 
no  right  to  take  any  credit  for  his  sobriety,  but 
he  has  great  cause  to  be  thankful  that  he  is  one  of 
those  who  are  immune  to  this  agency  of  selection. 
We  commend  the  letter  to  the  careful  thought  of 
our  readers.  The  conclusions  are  inevitable  and 
undoubted.  The  effects  of  alcohol  upon  in- 
dividuals and  races  are  entirely  a  matter  of  the 
laws  of  immunity.  Inborn  variations  in  degree 
of  susceptibility  account  for  the  differences  seen 
in  individuals,  supplemented  by  the  accident 
of  social  surroundings  and  the  opportunities 
afforded  for  indulgence.  Those  who  remain 
sober  and  survive,  are  those  who  have  inborn 
in  them  a  high  degree  of  resistance.  Those  who 
succumb  are  the  unfit.  They  become  eliminated 
in  time.  Thus  does  nature  produce  a  temperate 
race.  "  It  is  an  absolute  rule  to  which  there  is  no 
exception,  that,  given  an  abundant  supply  of 
alcohol,  every  race  is  temperate  strictly  in  pro- 
portion to  its  vast  experience  of  the  poison  " 
(Reid).  It  could  not  be  otherwise  with  such  a 
potent  agent  of  selection.1 

1  It  is  no  part  of  our  purpose  to  discuss  the  practical 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  national  drink  question  ;  but  it 


148         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Our  contention  is,  that  the  living  of  the  greatest 
life  is  a  matter  of  conformity  and  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  immunity.  We  have  in  the  early  part  of 
this  book  made  an  analysis  of  the  various  com- 
ponent parts  of  a  man,  one  of  those  parts  being 
what  is  usually  termed  his  physical  nature.  It 
is  that  part  of  him  that  we  are  now  examining  with 
a  view  to  ascertaining  what  laws  there  are,  if  any, 
which  are  universally  operative  in  that  sphere 
in  accordance  with  which  he  is  what  we  find 
him  to  be.  What  constitutes  the  greatest  life 
physically  ?  How  can  a  man  attain  physical 
perfection,  or  what  is  it  that  produces  him 
physically,  more  perfect  than  his  fellows  ?  We 
have  considered  the  case  of  disease,  in  the  first 
place,  as  being  a  widespread  agent  of  the  selection 
of  the  non-perfect  or  unfit,  and  we  have  found 
that  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  immunity 
that  individuals  and  races  are  what  they  are. 
Now,  secondly,  we  have  examined  the  case  of 
alcohol — another  great  agent  of  selection  amongst 
the  physically  unfit  or  imperfect,  and  here  again 
we  see  plainly  that  it  is  man's  immunity  or  sus- 
ceptibility which  makes  or  mars  him.  The  pro- 


may  be  pointed  out  in  passing  that  the  great  mortality  from 
this  agent  could  be  stamped  out  practically  in  one  genera- 
tion by  rendering  it  a  penal  offence,  subject  to  life  imprison- 
ment, for  a  confirmed  drunkard  to  have  children.  As  it  is, 
the  temperance  methods  adopted  do  their  best  to  put  him  in 
a  position  to  bring  forth  as  many  others  with  similar  tendencies 
as  he  can. 


THE  CASE  OF  ALCOHOLISM        149 

cesses  are  the  same  in  either  case ;  the  laws 
governing  them  are  identical.  We  shall  continue 
the  investigation  on  these  lines,  taking  our  facts 
from  independent  sources,  passing  gradually  from 
the  more  purely  physical  sphere  to  the  spheres  of 
the  mental  and  spiritual. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  CASE  OF  OPIUM 

TURNING  next  to  the  consideration  of  narcotics 
other  than  alcohol,  we  may  note  the  case  of 
opium,  concerning  which  the  facts  are  very  similar 
and  need  not  detain  us  so  long.  Once  more 
these  facts  may  be  taken  from  an  authoritative 
sociological  source. 

"  This  narcotic  has  been  used  extensively  in 
India  for  several  centuries.  It  was  introduced  by 
the  English  into  China  about  two  centuries  ago. 
Quite  recently  the  Chinese  have  taken  it  to  Burma, 
to  various  Polynesian  islands,  and  to  Australia. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  use  of  opium  has 
caused  any  race  to  deteriorate.  Indeed,  it  happens 
that  the  finest  races  in  India  are  the  most  addicted 
to  its  use.  According  to  the  evidence  given  to  the 
late  Royal  Commission  on  Opium,  the  natives  of 
India  never  or  very  rarely  take  it  to  excess. 
When  first  introduced  into  China  it  was  the  cause 
of  a  large  mortality  ;  but  to-day  most  Chinamen, 
especially  in  the  littoral  provinces,  take  it  in 
great  moderation.  On  the  other  hand  Burmans, 
Polynesians,  and  Australian  natives,  take  opium 
in  such  excess  and  perish  of  it  in  such  numbers 


THE  CASE  OF  OPIUM  151 

that  their  European  governors  are  obliged  to 
forbid  the  drug  to  them,  though  the  use  of  it  is 
permitted  to  foreign  immigrants  to  their  countries. 
In  exactly  the  same  way  alcohol  is  forbidden  to 
Australasians  and  Red  Indians  in  places  where  it 
is  permitted  to  white  men. 

"  Immensely  increased  doses  (of  opium)  can 
be  tolerated  by  the  habitual  user,  but,  if  he 
belong  to  a  race  which  has  had  no  previous 
experience  of  opium,  he  generally  desires  to 
reproduce  the  intoxication  he  felt  on  the  first 
occasion  of  using  it.  Opium,  like  measles,  is 
therefore  the  cause  of  a  large  mortality.  The 
resulting  evolution  tends  to  render  the  race 
"  immune,"  so  that  it  no  longer  desires  opium 
in  such  quantities  as  to  produce  intoxication.  It 
would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  power  of 
tolerating  increased  quantities  is  a  great  advan- 
tage. The  race  does  not  start  from  the  scratch. 
It  evolves  immunity  much  more  quickly  and 
easily  than  in  the  case  of  alcohol.  After  an 
experience  of  a  few  hundred  years  the  natives  of 
India  appear  quite  "  immune."  After  two 
centuries  the  Chinese  have  evolved  far  towards 
immunity.  But  a  disastrous  experience  of 
thousands  of  years  has  not  rendered  North 
Europeans  fully  "  immune  "  to  alcohol. 

"  It  seems  then,  both  as  regards  narcotics  and 
diseases,  that  the  ease  with  which  the  race  evolves 
resisting  power  bears  a  close  relation  to  the  ease 
with  which  the  individual  is  able  to  acquire 


152         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

personal  immunity  "  (Reid).  It  is  perfectly  plain 
that  the  diseases  which  are  the  most  potent  and 
death-dealing,  are  those  against  which  no  im- 
munity can  be  gained,  or  gained  only  after  long 
periods  and  with  difficulty — as  in  the  case  of 
malaria. 

Reference  may  be  made  here  to  the  case  of 
another  narcotic,  namely,  tobacco,  because  this  is 
an  instance  of  a  narcotic  against  which  a  complete 
immunity  can  be  acquired  without  much  difficulty. 
Judged  by  the  powerful  effects  of  nicotine  upon 
an  individual  who  is  indulging  in  the  weed  for  the 
first  time,  the  impression  would  be  gained  that 
those  results  would  be  disastrous  if  the  habit  were 
persevered  with.  To  the  beginner  the  narcotic 
is  very  poisonous.  No  one  would  contract  the 
smoking  habit  were  the  feelings  and  results  of 
the  first  attempt  renewed  with  every  succeeding 
instance  of  indulgence.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
these  feelings  of  nausea  and  depression,  together 
with  the  emetic  effects,  do  not  manifest  themselves 
for  long,  and  the  smoker  very  rapidly  acquires 
such  an  immunity  to  them  that  he  is  able  to 
indulge  in  very  largely  increased  doses,  without 
running  any  risk  of  the  extremely  unpleasant 
consequences  of  the  early  experience.  In  this 
case,  be  it  noted,  the  poisonous  effects  are  not 
what  the  smoker  desires.  Smokers  do  not  seek 
the  intoxicating  results  of  nicotine  which  they 
first  experienced,  and  as  a  result  there  is  no 
elimination  resulting  from  the  habit.  It  is  not 


THE  CASE  OF  OPIUM  153 

therefore  an  agent  of  selection,  because  its 
poisonous  effects  do  not  create  a  craving.  Every 
one  smokes  in  moderation  who  smokes  at  all,  in 
the  sense  that  they  do  not  indulge  to  the  point  of 
profound  intoxication  as  they  do  in  alcohol  or  in 
opium.  "  The  mortality  caused  by  tobacco  is  so 
small  as  to  be  negligible.  As  a  consequence — 
and  in  this  it  resembles  chickenpox — no  evolution 
results  from  racial  experience  of  it.  Races  who 
have  long  used  it  desire  it  in  quantities  as  large 
as  races  that  have  had  no  experience  of  it.  Opium 
lies  midway  between  alcohol  and  tobacco " 
(Reid). 

Once  more  we  see  that  in  all  these  cases  the 
differences  in  individuals  are  to  be  accounted  for 
on  the  lines  of  immunity.  Individuals  vary 
because  of  their  varying  degrees  of  susceptibility 
and  immunity  to  these  narcotic  effects.  What 
will  upset  one  man  is  harmless  to  another — his 
susceptibility  is  less.  In  some  there  can  be 
acquired  a  degree  of  toleration,  accustomedness, 
immunity,  which  is  immensely  beyond  that  to 
which  others  can  attain ;  and  the  prudent  man 
is  he  who  knows  his  own  limit  and  keeps  strictly 
within  it.  In  any  case,  it  is  undoubted  that,  by 
long  practice  and  indulgence  or  experience,  the 
normal  individual  can  become  to  a  very  large 
extent  immune.  This  is  another  case  in  which 
physical  characters  are  therefore  shown  to  depend 
upon  the  acquisition  of  immunity.  The  result 
depends  upon  this,  and  this  alone.  Whether  the 


154         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

result  is  worth  while  attaining,  right  or  wrong, 
moral  or  immoral,  is  not  our  concern  here ;  we 
are  studying  processes  as  such.  If  a  man  wishes 
to  be  able  to  resist  the  effects  of  narcotics,  there- 
fore, he  must  put  himself  under  their  influence, 
gradually  increasing  the  amount  used  until  he 
establishes  within  himself  a  toleration,  an  im- 
munity to  their  toxic  effects.  Only  in  this  way 
can  he  hope  to  be  able  to  indulge  in  anything  but 
the  smallest  quantity.  It  is  no  use  trying  to 
become  a  heavy  smoker  by  indulging  in  a  mild 
cigarette  once  a  week  ;  the  habit  must  be  practised 
daily,  until  it  is  thoroughly  established  and 
immunity  secured.  If  it  be  interjected  by  some 
one  that  the  result  is  an  undesirable  one,  we  say 
again — at  the  risk  of  wearisome  iteration — that 
we  are  not  concerned  with  that  point.  Our 
point  is  that,  desirable  or  undesirable,  the  process 
involved  is  as  stated,  and  further  that,  no  matter 
whether  the  habit  under  consideration  be  desirable 
or  otherwise,  the  process  of  acquiring  it  is  identical 
— a  matter  of  acquiring  a  toleration,  of  becoming 
immune  to  some  agency  or  other,  or  of  becoming 
more  susceptible  to  some  agency,  as  the  case  may 
be.  We  have  selected  the  examples  set  forth, 
simply  because  the  process  is  easier  to  follow  in 
such  cases,  but,  as  we  progress,  it  is  hoped  to 
show  that  the  same  identical  laws  control  man's 
making,  no  matter  what  the  nature  of  the 
agency  under  notice.  The  acquisition  of  a 
good  habit,  no  less  than  that  of  a  bad  one,  is 


THE  CASE  OF  OPIUM  155 

a  process  of  precisely  the  same  nature;  one 
must  become  tolerant  of  it,  accustomed  to  it, 
so  that  even  if  it  were  at  first  irksome  it  soon 
is  no  longer  so,  but  a  possible  delight  and  a 
fixed  habit.  The  ethical  aspect  is  in  the  choice  of 
habits. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  CASE  OF  VARIOUS  PHYSICAL  AGENCIES 

BEFORE  we  leave  the  physical  aspect  of  the  making 
of  a  man,  it  may  be  well  to  glance  very  briefly  at 
a  number  of  agencies  which  act  upon  him  in  this 
sphere,  and  play  their  part  in  the  production  of  his 
total  individuality,  in  order  to  show  that  the 
principles  we  are  insisting  upon  are  really  of  the 
universal  nature  suggested.  A  few  such  agencies 
may  be  selected  almost  at  random,  and  their 
results  noted,  after  which  the  reader  should  be 
able  to  follow  out  for  himself  the  process  in  the 
case  of  any  imaginable  physical  agent  whatsoever. 

The  question  before  us  is  ever  the  same.  What 
makes  the  individual  the  man  we  see  him  to  be  ? 
How  may  he  become  what  he  desires  to  be  or  what 
he  ought  to  be  ?  The  answer  to  the  latter  ques- 
tion is,  we  hold,  to  be  found  in  the  answer  to  the 
former.  No  two  people  are  quite  alike,  and  we 
are  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the  physical 
sphere,  at  any  rate,  it  is  because  of  their 
varying  susceptibilities  and  capacities  for  gaining 
immunity. 

Take  a  few  every-day  commonplace  agencies  as 
examples. 

150 


VARIOUS  PHYSICAL  AGENCIES        157 

i.  FOOD  AND  ARTICLES  OF  DIET 

Here  is  a  physical  agency  which  is  a  necessity 
to  the  making  of  a  man,  and  yet  no  two  persons 
have  exactly  the  same  food-characteristics — 
tastes,  we  term  them.  Certain  food-capacities 
are  common  to  all  at  one  period  or  other  of  life. 
All  young  mammals  feed  upon  milk,  even  though 
later  in  life  they  may  dislike  it.  All  animals 
demand  water  in  one  form  or  another  in  order  to 
live,  but  outside  these  simple  necessaries  the 
range  of  variations  in  tastes,  susceptibilities  and 
immunities,  is  immense.  In  very  many  cases 
food-habits  are  just  as  much  acquired,  and  often 
with  as  much  difficulty,  as  are  habits  such  as 
drinking  alcohol  and  smoking  tobacco.  Indeed, 
we  use  that  very  word  of  many  food-habits  ; 
we  speak  of  them  as  "  acquired  tastes  "  for  this 
or  that.  In  some  cases  it  is  a  natural  product  or 
a  fruit,  the  tomato,  for  example,  for  which  the 
food-habit  is  acquired  and  is,  by  some  persons, 
not  acquired  at  all.  Of  a  given  number  of  persons 
who  are  offered  such  a  food  for  the  first  time,  some 
will  dislike  it  immensely,  others  will  put  up  with 
it,  others  will  enjoy  it.  Some  can  become  tolerant 
of  the  taste,  others  cannot.  To  some  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  habit  is  a  matter  of  repeated  effort ; 
others  are  most  susceptible,  and  indulge  to  the 
extreme.  There  is  something  in  the  individual 
which  renders  him  susceptible  or  immune  to  this 
particular  agency,  just  as  there  is  in  the  case  of 


158         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

alcohol.  The  fact  that  it  does  not  make  much 
difference  to  him  whether  he  is  susceptible  or 
not,  is  not  the  point ;  if  it  had  been  true  that  the 
tomato  was  a  factor  in  causing  cancer — as  was 
wildly  suggested  only  a  few  years  ago,  without 
any  grounds  for  the  suggestion,  it  would  have 
made  a  great  difference.  As  it  is,  it  merely 
exemplifies  one  characteristic  in  the  personality. 
The  point  is,  that  in  the  case  of  foods  men  vary ; 
and  if  there  be  any  particular  reason  why  a 
certain  food  should  become  an  article  of  diet  for 
some  individual,  any  initial  dislike  for  that  food 
can  only  be  got  rid  of  by  gradually  establishing 
a  tolerance,  an  immunity  to  the  unpleasant  effects 
or  prejudices.  And  the  effort  to  do  this,  if 
maintained,  would  possibly  result  in  an  entire 
change  of  physical  taste  and  mental  attitude.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  multiply  instances ;  many 
will  occur  readily  to  the  mind  of  the  reader,  who 
probably  in  his  own  person  could  furnish  some 
instance  of  the  process  under  consideration. 

2.  AIR  AND  VENTILATION 

Here  again  is  an  agency — fresh  air — a  certain 
quantity  of  which  is  essential  for  the  very  exist- 
ence of  a  man.  But  individuals  vary  immensely 
in  the  amount  required  to  keep  them  in  good 
physical  condition  ;  and  in  this  instance,  too, 
susceptibilities  and  acquired  habits  are  very 
marked.  Our  own  society  in  the  last  generation 


VARIOUS  PHYSICAL  AGENCIES        159 

has  shown  a  remarkable  change  of  habits  in  this 
very  matter.  Almost  every  one  nowadays  is 
'  converted  '  to  the  gospel  of  fresh  air — doubtless 
to  the  good  of  the  community  at  large,  but 
greatly  to  the  discomfort  and,  at  times,  even  to  the 
danger  of  the  older  folks  still  living,  who  were 
not  brought  up  (i.e.  had  not  become  '  tolerant ') — 
to  sit  and  sleep  in  rooms  with  all  the  windows 
wide  open — summer  and  winter — with  the  ther- 
mometer near  freezing  point.  It  is  the  simple 
truth  that  many  people  '  cannot  stand '  the  free 
ventilation  which  is  nowadays  considered  the  only 
possible  method  of  living  a  healthy  life.  But, 
just  as  in  all  other  instances,  the  majority  of 
people  can  acquire  the  habit  of  indulging  in  more 
fresh  air  than  they  have  been  accustomed  to, 
and,  as  in  the  case  of  many  other  habits,  it 
becomes  a  necessity,  and  sometimes  a  nuisance. 
It  is  occasionally  associated  with  an  immunity 
to  the  susceptibilities  of  the  weak  and  delicate 
which  is  a  striking  example  of  the  processes  we 
have  been  describing.  In  itself  it  is  an  example 
of  the  acquiring  of  a  good  habit — the  methods 
of  acquisition  being  governed  by  identically 
the  same  laws  as  the  acquisition  of  the  alcohol 
habit,  the  opium  habit,  or  the  tobacco  habit. 
The  morality  or  value  of  the  habit  makes  no 
difference  in  the  method  of  gaining  it. 


i6o         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

3.  EXERCISE  AND  PHYSICAL  EXERTION 

Here  is  another  physical  agency  which,  in  some 
degree  or  other,  is  a  necessity  for  all  healthy  life, 
and  especially  for  growth.  But  individuals  vary 
immensely  in  the  amount  they  require  or  enjoy, 
and  can  establish  a  toleration  in  either  direction 
within  very  wide  limits.  In  some  people  lack  of 
a  considerable  amount  of  exercise  soon  produces 
bad  effects,  whilst  others  can  keep  in  excellent 
health  and  vigour  upon  a  minimum  quantity. 
Some  are  practically  immune  to  any  ill  effects 
which  follow  upon  deficient  exercise  ;  others  are 
extremely  susceptible  to  those  ill  effects.  Exactly 
as  in  other  physical  agencies,  the  kind  and  degree 
of  the  habit  or  indulgence  can  be  acquired, 
enjoyed,  abused,  or  neglected.  Within  limits, 
the  individual  can  become  susceptible  or  immune 
just  as  he  chooses  to  make  the  effort. 

4.  PHYSICAL  WORK 

Here,  again,  we  see  at  once  that  the  capacity  for 
physical  labour  is  essentially  a  matter  of  tolera- 
tion, of  being  immune  to  fatigue  or  susceptible 
to  it.  We  are  not  now  speaking  of  the  desire  to 
labour  physically — which  is  a  different  thing — 
but  of  the  capacity  to  do  so.  The  extreme  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  effects  of  fatigue  are  familiar 
to  all  those  who  habitually  over-exert  themselves 
in  this  way  during  an  annual  holiday,  after  months 


VARIOUS  PHYSICAL  AGENCIES        161 

of  sedentary  occupation.  The  first  few  efforts  at 
physical  labour  leave  great  exhaustion,  and 
occasionally  do  a  good  deal  of  harm.  But,  as  the 
days  go  on,  the  individual  can  do  more  and  more 
in  this  direction  ;  he  becomes  '  tolerant,'  immune 
to  fatigue.  He  is  no  longer  susceptible  to  the 
exhausting  effects  of  fatigue-products  in  his 
system  ;  he  becomes  able  to  eliminate  them  as 
they  are  formed,  and  within  certain  limits  can 
extend  his  capacity  for  labour  to  an  extent  which 
surprises  him.  This  is,  in  fact,  what  is  meant  by 
'  being  in  training,'  in  the  physical  sense.  Train- 
ing is  the  establishment  of  a  condition  of  im- 
munity to  fatigue.  It  is  an  immunity  possessed 
in  a  high  degree  by  the  professional  or  other 
athlete  and  by  the  manual  labourer.  It  can  be 
attained  either  for  the  whole  body,  as  is  necessary, 
for  example,  for  a  footballer ;  or  it  can  be 
attained  for  a  particular  group  of  muscles,  such 
as  are  brought  into  play  in  many  games  and 
special  physical  exercises.  In  either  case,  what 
is  aimed  at  is  the  acquirement  of  a  condition  of 
immunity,  general  or  local — a  process  governed 
by  laws  identical  to  those  studied  in  the  sphere 
of  disease.  In  this  direction  again,  then,  the 
attaining  of  the  physical  perfection — the  greatest 
physical  life — is  a  matter  of  rendering  the  in- 
dividual immune  to  agencies  which  hinder  that 
attainment 


162         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

5.  HEAT,  COLD,  AND  CLIMATE 

Lastly,  in  this  connection,  we  may  note  the 
factors  connected  with  temperature.  It  is  the 
same  story  repeated.  All  are  susceptible  in 
varying  degrees  to  the  action  on  their  physical 
bodies  of  different  temperatures.  Below  a  cer- 
tain minimum,  and  above  a  certain  maximum, 
life  cannot  «xist.  Between  the  two  extremes 
there  is  an  optimum  temperature  at  which  any 
organism  can  perform  its  vital  functions  to  the 
best  advantage.  Warm-blooded  animals,  how- 
ever, possess  a  heat-regulating  mechanism  con- 
trolled by  the  nervous  system,  by  means  of  which 
they  can  adapt  themselves  to  considerable  ranges 
of  heat  and  cold.  But  this  can  be  best  done  if  the 
change  be  gradually  brought  about,  so  that  a 
gradual  tolerance  be  established.  A  sudden 
transference  from  the  polar  regions  to  the  equator 
might  be  fraught  with  danger  ;  but,  by  giving  the 
body  a  chance  to  accommodate  itself  to  the 
changing  temperature  by  moving  more  slowly 
from  the  one  to  the  other,  a  human  being  is  able 
to  stand  both.  He  can  become  immune  to  a 
great  heat  or  a  great  cold,  extremes  to  which  in 
the  first  instance  he  may  have  been  extremely 
susceptible.  In  a  recent  tour  of  English  cricketers 
to  Australia,  the  failure  of  the  English  team  to  do 
themselves  justice  at  Adelaide  was  attributed  to 
the  intense  heat  prevailing  there,  to  which  the 
colonial  players  were  said  to  be  more  or  less 


VARIOUS  PHYSICAL  AGENCIES        163 

immune,  from  their  residence  in  Australia.  Both 
teams  were  men  of  the  same  race ;  but  the  one 
was  more  susceptible  to  the  physical  agency  of 
heat  than  the  other.  The  physically  perfect 
man,  for  a  contest  under  those  special  conditions, 
would  be  he  who  was  immune  to  the  heat,  an 
immunity  which  could  be  acquired  by  a  suffi- 
ciently long  experience  of  the  conditions. 

The  converse  is,  of  course,  equally  obvious  and 
true.  The  successful  arctic  or  antarctic  explorer 
will  be  he  who  is  successful  in  establishing  an 
immunity  to  the  severity  of  the  cold ;  indeed,  if 
he  be  unable  to  do  this  he  will  perish.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  it  is  those  races  who  inhabit 
temperate  zones  who  are  most  capable  of  acquiring 
this  immunity  to  extremes  of  climatic  tempera- 
tures. Probably  the  Esquimaux  would  fail  as 
explorers  in  tropical  Africa,  as  would  the  negro 
inhabitants  of  that  region  in  the  Polar  circles. 
The  European  has  evolved  a  capacity  of  adapting 
himself  to  these,  or  less  variations — a  capacity, 
in  other  words,  of  acquiring  immunity  to  them. 
The  vagaries  of  his  own  climate  have  compelled 
him  to  do  so. 

We  need  not  pursue  physical  processes  further. 
Unless  we  have  utterly  failed  to  make  our  argu- 
ment clear,  the  reader  must  realise  that  physical 
perfection  depends  upon  the  attainment  of 
physical  immunity.  To  conclude  this  part  of  our 
subject,  look  once  again  at  the  definitions  given 
on  a  previous  page  (page  102),  and  see  if  what  we 


164        SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

have  ascertained  is  in  accordance  with  what  was 
there  defined.  It  will  be  convenient  to  repeat  it 
here. 

IMMUNITY  is  that  condition  in  virtue  of  which 
there  is  absolute  or  partial  freedom  from,  or 
capacity  to  resist,  certain  agencies. 

PHYSICAL  IMMUNITY  is  that  condition  of  a  race 
or  an  individual  in  virtue  of  which  agencies 
destructive  to  life  can  be  resisted  absolutely  or 
partially. 

THE  GREATEST  LIFE,  physically,  therefore,  is 
to  be  attained  only  by  him  who,  either  by  inborn 
capacity  or  acquired  traits,  is  highly  immune  to 
those  agencies  which  tend  to  impair  his  vital 
functions  or  destroy  his  existence. 

As  far  as  physical  nature  is  concerned,  an 
individual  is  simply  the  sum  total  of  his  physical 
susceptibilities  and  immunities. 

If  the  laws  of  immunity  are  all-pervading,  we 
shall  find  that  their  operation  is  as  manifest  in  the 
mental  sphere  as  in  that  already  considered,  and 
to  the  mental  sphere  we  next  devote  our  attention. 


VARIOUS  PHYSICAL  AGENCIES        165 


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CHAPTER  X 
THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND 

So  far,  we  have  been  considering  the  making  of  a 
man  from  the  point  of  view  of  his  physical  in- 
dividuality. Our  effort  has  been  to  show  that 
man  has  become  what  he  is — either  as  a  species, 
a  race,  or  a  personality — in  virtue  of  his  having 
evolved  certain  physical  characters  together  with 
the  capacity  for  acquiring  others.  Physically 
he  is  the  sum  total  of  these  characters,  or  capaci- 
ties, or  the  lack  of  them.  In  this  physical  part 
of  himself  the  inborn  traits — capacities  for  ac- 
quisition, susceptibilities  and  immunities — 
largely  predominate.  His  physical  acquirements 
are  comparatively  limited  and  fairly  rigidly 
denned.  Their  range  can  be  foretold  with  con- 
siderable accuracy,  and  we  know  that  physically, 
beyond  certain  limits,  he  cannot  go. 

It  is  impossible  to  draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  of 
distinction  between  these  physical  characters 
and  those  we  term  mental  or  moral,  because  the 
latter  evidently  depend  upon  the  former ;  but, 
for  descriptive  purposes,  the  colloquial  division 
may  be  retained  with  advantage,  and  the  mental 
traits  considered  to  be  those  which  appertain  to 

166 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       167 

that  part  of  man  which  we  call  '  the  mind/  In 
this  category,  then,  comes  the  intellect  or  in- 
telligence :  that  part  of  a  man  which  conceives, 
judges,  reasons,  wills,  imagines,  remembers, 
understands,  reflects,  thinks,  and  doubts.  The 
mind  or  intelligent  principle  in  man  is  made  a 
possibility  by  the  highly  developed  state  of  his 
brain  and  nervous  system. 

The  mental  characters  are  all  those  that  per- 
tain to  this  mind — the  intellectual  faculties,  pro- 
cesses, and  capacities,  manifested  through  and 
by  means  of  the  physical  organ  of  the  brain, 
but  conveniently  regarded  as  being  apart  from 
the  ordinary  physical  characteristics.  The  real 
justification  for  keeping  them  so  apart  in  our 
study  of  them  is  to  be  found  hi  our  present 
ignorance  of  the  nature  of  nerve  and  brain  energy. 
Were  this  demonstrably  molecular,  chemical,  or 
electrical,  mental  processes  would  have  to  be 
described  accordingly.  But  the  essential  nature 
of  nerve  energy  and  motion  has  hitherto  eluded 
discovery.  The  exact  nature  of  the  changes 
which  occur  in  a  brain  cell  when  it  receives  an 
impression  or  conceives  an  idea  is  not  known. 
The  immediate  physical  basis  of  mental  life  is  in 
the  cerebral  cortex,  that  part  of  the  central 
nervous  system  to  which  sensory  impulses  are 
transmitted  by  afferent  nerves,  giving  rise  to  all 
the  varied  sensations.  Further,  all  voluntary 
initiation  of  movement  takes  its  origin  in  the 
cerebral  cortex,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe 


168         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

that  the  brain  and  the  mind  are  absolutely  inter- 
dependent in  their  development.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  brain  not  only  keeps  up  to,  but  is 
also  that  which  determines  the  advance  of  the 
mind. 

If  a  very  condensed  classification  of  mental 
characteristics  be  desired,  that  used  by  many 
psychologists  may  conveniently  be  adopted.  It 
describes  all  the  mental  phenomena  as  coming 
under  one  of  three  categories.  These  are  grouped 
as  follows : — 

(1)  INTELLECTUAL    OPERATIONS,     e.g.    Ob- 

serving, remembering,  judging,  etc. 

(2)  FEELING,  e.g.   States  of  fear,  hope,  re- 

morse, pleasure,  pain,  etc. 

(3)  VOLITION,    e.g.  Purposive  acts,   willing, 

deliberating,  etc. 

"  These  three  categories  have  been  regarded 
by  most  modern  psychologists  as  indicating  the 
primary  functions  or  fundamental  modes  of 
activity  of  mind.  All  that  the  mind  does  can 
be  brought  under  one  or  more  of  the  three  follow- 
ing heads :  (a)  Knowing,  Cognition,  or  Intel- 
lection ;  (6)  Feeling,  States  of  Pleasure  or  Pain, 
or  Effective  States ;  and  (c)  Willing,  Conation, 
or  Active  Processes.  Our  mental  life  may  thus 
be  said  to  be  composed  of  ever-varied  combina- 
tions of  these  functional  activities  as  its  ultimate 
factors  or  constituent  elements  "  (Sully). 

As  to  the  relationship  of  these  three  modes  of 
mental  functioning,  it  is  well  to  note  that  no  one 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       169 

phase  can  be  operating  in  any  great  intensity 
without  tending  to  eclipse,  temporarily  at  least, 
the  other  two  phases.  In  precisely  the  same  way, 
in  the  physical  sphere,  a  man  does  not  fall  under 
the  infection  of  small-pox  and  scarlet  fever  at 
one  and  the  same  time.  One  will  predominate 
over  the  other,  and,  if  a  mixed  infection  be 
experimentally  inoculated  into  an  animal,  the 
resulting  disease  is  not  a  mixture  of  all  the  in- 
fective agents  but  one  disease  which  predominates 
over  the  others.  The  bacteriologist,  indeed,  uses 
this  fact  in  order  to  separate  different  microbes 
from  each  other.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  the 
closest  interaction  and  interdependence  between 
the  three  mental  groups.  Intellectual  processes 
produce  emotions  ;  emotions  influence  thought ; 
both  stimulate  to  purposive  action,  which,  in  its 
turn,  controls  feeling  and  ideation. 

Looked  at  from  the  point  of  view  of  recent 
psychic  research,  mind  is  regarded  as  being  dual 
or  twofold.  Thus  : — 

1.  "  The  OBJECTIVE  MIND  takes  cognisance'of 
the  objective  world.     Its  media  of  observation 
are  the  five  physical  senses.     It  is  the  outgrowth 
of  man's  physical  necessities.     It  is  his  guide  in 
his  struggle  with  his  material  environment.     Its 
highest  function  is  that  of  reasoning." 

2.  "  The  SUBJECTIVE  MIND  takes  cognisance  of 
its  environment  by  means  independent  of  the 
physical  senses.     It  perceives  by  intuition.     It 
is  the  seat  of  the  emotions,  and  the  storehouse 


170         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

of  memory.  It  performs  its  highest  functions 
when  the  objective  senses  are  in  abeyance.  In 
a  word,  it  is  that  intelligence  which  makes  itself 
manifest  in  a  hypnotic  subject  when  he  is  in  a 
state  of  somnambulism"  (Hudson). 

The  reader  will  at  once  recognise  that  this 
method  of  regarding  the  mind  is  merely  another 
way  of  grouping  mental  phenomena.  It  is  a 
method  which  is  of  great  value  in  elucidating  the 
phenomena  of  '  suggestion  ' ;  but  the  assertion 
that  the  subjective  mind  is  independent  of  the 
physical  senses  is,  of  course,  quite  gratuitous.1 

Any  detailed  statement  of  psychology  is,  of 
course,  quite  foreign  to  a  purpose  which  in  this 
part  of  our  task  is  the  ascertaining  of  how  the 
individual  becomes  mentally  what  he  is.  That 
known,  the  assumption  is  that  the  explanation 
will  point  to  the  solution  of  the  question,  How 
to  attain  the  greatest  mental  life. 

Obviously,  this  problem  demands  for  its 
solution  a  clear  conception  of  what  is  mentally 
inborn  and  what  is  mentally  acquired,  just  as  in 
our  inquiry  into  the  physical  making  of  man  we 
had  to  ascertain  what  he  owed  to  inheritance  and 
what  to  acquisition.  Only  in  that  way  can  we 
realise  how  much  man  can  do  for  himself  or  have 
done  for  him.  The  true  understanding  of  this 
matter  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  all  real 

1  The  terms  '  objective  '  and  '  subjective  '  correspond  to  the 
terms  '  supraliminal '  and  '  subliminal '  used  by  other  writers 
on  psychical  research. 


t 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       171 

educational,  political,  and  religious  progress. 
Without  such  knowledge  the  statesman,  the 
politician,  and  the  reformer,  work  in  the  dark. 

The  very  first  point  to  be  cleared  up  is  the 
qualitative  and  quantitative  estimate  as  to  how 
much  of  the  mind  of  a  man  is  made  up  of  what  is 
termed  '  Instinct '  and  how  much  of  '  Reason ' 
— because  instincts  are  not  amenable  to  reason. 
The  biological  inquiry  of  whether  reason  was 
evolved  from  instinct,  or  whether  instinct  is 
lapsed  intelligence,  or  that  neither  view  is  correct, 
need  not  trouble  us,  so  long  as  we  know  in  what 
sense  the  two  terms  are  used. 

They  may  be  defined  thus  : — 

"  INSTINCT  is  that  faculty  which  is  concerned 
in  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  by  virtue  of 
inborn  inherited  mental  impulses  and  capacities 
for  action. 

"  REASON  is  that  faculty  which  is  concerned  in 
the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  by  virtue  of 
acquired  non-inherited  mental  impulses  and 
capacities  for  action  "  (Reid). 

It  is  chiefly  in  the  enormous  difference  between 
man  and  the  lower  animals  in  these  two  kinds  of 
mental  processes,  that  man's  mind  differs  from 
theirs.  Man  acts  chiefly  by  reason — faulty  or 
otherwise,  the  lower  animals  chiefly  by  instinct. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  treat  fully  of  animal  instincts  ; 
but  it  is  most  instructive  to  observe  how  little 
man  is  able  to  do  for  himself  by  instinct,  and  how 
much  he  may  acquire  by  reason.  That  is  why 


172         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

there  is  always  a  greatest  life  which  he  may  strive 
to  lead.  The  great  contrast  between  the  two 
is  well  brought  out  in  the  following  passage  : — 

"  Not  only  the  instinctive  impulse  (the  instinct 
properly  so-called)  but  also  the  power  of  per- 
forming the  instinctive  action  which  results  from 
the  impulse,  is  usually  inborn  ;  whereas,  not  only 
the  rational  impulse,  but  the  power  of  giving 
effect  to  it  is  acquired.  For  example,  the  cater- 
pillar builds  as  a  place  of  shelter  a  cocoon,  and  a 
man  a  house.  The  caterpillar  acts  on  an  inborn 
mental  impulse.  He  has  had  no  previous  know- 
ledge of  cocoons  and  can  have  no  idea  of  the 
purposes  they  serve.  Very  probably  he  has  never 
seen  one  before.  But  he  acts  as  if  he  knew  all 
about  the  uses  of  cocoons  and  the  proper  method 
of  building  them.  Driven  by  his  inborn  impulse 
he  sets  to  work  at  the  fit  time  and  place.  Not- 
withstanding the  total  lack  of  all  practice,  his 
bodily  parts  act  in  exact  co-ordination.  Ap- 
parently his  work  in  its  beginnings  is  as  perfect 
as  in  its  endings.  Unaided  by  memory,  by 
learning,  by  practice,  by  acquired  mental  and 
physical  traits,  he  rears  an  elaborate  structure 
precisely  suited  to  his  needs.  The  man  builds 
his  house  in  quite  a  different  fashion.  He  has 
no  instinctive  impulse  to  build,  and  no  inborn 
dexterity ;  but  he  has  a  clear  idea  of  what  he 
wants.  Memory  furnishes  him  with  his  impulse 
and  his  knowledge  ;  practice  confers  upon  him  his 
dexterity.  If  a  caterpillar  observed  other  cater- 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       173 

pillars  working,  and  noted  how,  and  inferred  why, 
they  builded,  and  concluded  finally  that  it  would 
be  beneficial  if  he  did  the  like,  his  action  would  be 
rational.  He  would  depend  upon  his  memory, 
on  his  acquired  mental  traits,  on  his  power  of 
using  past  experience  for  the  guidance  of  future 
conduct.  In  effect,  he  would  think,  '  Such  and 
such  actions  were  beneficial  for  such  and  such 
reasons  to  other  caterpillars  ;  let  me  therefore 
imitate  them.'  Such  a  caterpillar  would  work 
clumsily  at  first,  but  with  greater  skill  later.  If 
the  man,  on  the  other  hand,  was  impelled  to 
build  his  house  by  an  inborn  mental  impulse,  and 
wrought  perfectly  without  previous  knowledge, 
practice,  and  forethought,  both  his  impulse  and 
his  power  of  giving  effect  to  it  would  be  in- 
stinctive. The  distinction  between  instinct,  and 
what  we  have  termed  reason,  then,  is  clear " 
(Reid). 

Instincts,  we  repeat,  depend  upon  inborn  mental 
traits ;  reason  depends  upon  acquired  mental 
characters.  How  much  of  man's  mind  is  in- 
stinctive and  how  much  rational  ?  The  answer 
to  that  question  will  show  how  far  it  is 
possible  for  man  to  attain  to  mental  greatness, 
and  how  far  he  is  restricted  in  this  direction. 

In  this  enquiry  we  are  brought  face  to  face  at 
once  with  the  extraordinary  paucity  of  human 
instincts  as  compared  with  those  of  the  lower 
animals.  The  human  infant  at  birth  is  the  most 
helpless  creature  living  and,  without  prompt 


174         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

attention  from  the  more  experienced  of  its  species, 
would  invariably  perish.  It  has  the  instinct  of 
hunger,  and  the  desire  for  food,  but  is  without  the 
instinct  to  enable  it  to  find  or  obtain  that  food 
for  itself.  It  has  the  instinct  for  rest  and  sleep, 
and  will  instinctively  cry  when  in  pain  or  dis- 
comfort. That  is  practically  all  that  it  can  do 
for  itself  by  instinct.  What  a  contrast  to,  say, 
a  newly  hatched  chicken  or  the  caterpillar 
previously  referred  to  !  Later  on,  a  few  other 
instincts  become  apparent,  of  which  the  most 
important  for  the  development  of  the  child  are  the 
instincts  of  curiosity  and  the  imitative  instinct. 
It  is  chiefly  by  the  exercise  of  these  two  that  the 
infant  mind  grows.  Then  there  is  the  sporting 
instinct,  the  love  of  play — very  important  for  the 
due  development  of  the  body  especially ;  and  to 
these  still  later  may  be  added  the  sexual  instinct — 
for  the  preservation  of  the  race,  and  the  parental 
instinct — far  stronger  in  females  than  in  males. 
Indeed,  in  many  human  males  it  is  probable  that 
the  parental  instinct  is  absent  and  that  the  emo- 
tion which  takes  its  place  is  a  purely  acquired 
mental  character. 

Contrast  this  meagre  list  of  mental  attainments 
with  the  mind  of  a  fully  developed  educated 
adult  1  The  difference  is  almost  inconceivable. 
Herein  lies  the  superiority  of  man  as  a  species. 
The  adult  hen  does  not  differ  in  many  or  great 
respects  mentally  from  the  chicken  of  a  week 
old;  but  the  mind  of  the  human  infant  and 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       175 

that  of  the  human  adult  are  as  the  poles  asunder. 
Why  ?  Because  man  has  but  few  instincts,  and, 
instead,  has  the  most  marvellous  capacity  of 
acquiring  mental  characters  that  living  creatures 
exhibit.  He  is  essentially  the  educable  animal. 
Hence  the  vital  importance  of  the  method  adopted 
in  teaching  him.  At  birth  he  has  everything  to 
learn  ;  but  he  can  learn  anything. 

The  one  great  outstanding  characteristic  of  the 
human  mind — that  which  makes  it  possible  for 
man  to  live  the  greatest  life — is  this  fundamental 
fact,  that  at  birth  his  mind  is  almost  a  blank 
sheet,  upon  which  may  be  written — anything  ! 
In  contrast  to  his  physical  inborn  characters 
which  are  well-defined  and  capable  of  but  limited 
extension  and  adaptation,  his  mental  capacities 
are  apparently  unlimited ;  for  who  shall  set  a 
limit  to  the  mind  of  man  !  Just  think,  for  a 
moment,  of  all  that  is  acquired  by  the  mind  of  a 
child  in  the  first  few  years  of  life.  At  almost 
every  moment  it  is  receiving  some  new  impression 
from  without,  which  is  stored  up  carefully  in  the 
memory  for  future  use.  Truly  the  "  little  children 
are  the  intellectual  giants "  (Reid).  There  is 
nothing  in  the  mental  sphere  of  the  full-grown 
man  to  compare  with  the  marvellous  receptivity 
of  the  young  mind. 

This  contrast  between  the  powers  of  acquisition 
possessed  by  the  body  as  opposed  to  the  mind  is 
all-important  in  our  enquiry.  Dr  Archdall  Reid 
has  recognised  its  supreme  importance  more  than 


176         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

any  other  contemporary  writer ;  and  in  this 
connection  we  would  quote  the  following  passages 
from  this  brilliant  thinker  : — 

"  No  one  will  doubt  that  a  Scandinavian  and 
an  African  Bushman,  reared  as  members  of  the 
same  household,  and  therefore  under  very  similar 
conditions,  would  present  immense  physical  con- 
trasts. The  structures  of  both  would  grow  under 
the  influence  of  use,  and  all  this  growth  would  be 
an  acquirement ;  but  the  direction  of  the  growth 
and  the  extent  of  it  would  be  rigidly  limited  by 
thek  inborn  tendencies.  But  while  the  kind  and 
the  amount  of  development  which  may  result, 
from  use,  "in  the  hand  or  other  physical  structures, 
is  rigidly  limited,  a  man  is  capable  of  learning 
to  use  his  hand  in  any  one  of  a  thousand  or  million 
different  ways.  Thus  he  may  acquire  dexterity 
as  an  etcher,  a  painter,  a  writer,  a  watchmaker, 
a  marksman,  a  blacksmith,  a  surgeon,  and  so  on 
in  endless  variety.  But  all  these  acquirements 
are  mental,  not  physical.  We  see  then,  by  con- 
trasting the  range  of  acquirements  which  ex- 
perience in  using  a  hand  may  produce  in  the  mind, 
how  immensely  greater  is  the  power  of  making 
acquirements  possessed  by  the  latter.  Moreover 
manual  dexterities  form  only  a  microscopical 
part  of  the  total  that  a  man's  mind  may,  and 
always  does,  acquire.  The  artist's  skill  in  guiding 
his  hand  is  as  naught  compared  to  the  rest  of 
his  mental  achievements.  As  naught  to  the  rest 
is  the  skilful  penmanship  of  the  historian,  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       177 

poet,  or  the  philosopher.  Who  can  even  name 
a  manual  dexterity  which  underlies  the  success  of 
the  statesman  or  the  general !  The  real  adapta- 
bility, the  real  plasticity  of  man,  therefore,  lies 
in  his  mind,  not  in  his  body.  It  is  in  the  former 
that  he  is  pre-eminent  above  lower  animals.  His 
body  is  like  a  fragment  of  flint  which  some  rude 
savage  may  chip  and  change  a  little.  His  mind 
is  like  a  mass  of  clay  or  metal  which  a  skilful 
workman  may  mould  into  ten  thousand  shapes. 
Mentally,  much  more  than  physically,  man  is  the 
product  of  his  immediate  surroundings  ;  whereas 
physically,  much  more  than  mentally,  he  is  the 
product  of  a  long-extended  past. 

"It  is  often  argued  that  since  men  differ 
greatly  as  regards  their  innate  physical  char- 
acters, they  must  differ  as  greatly  as  regards  their 
inborn  mental  characters.  Doubtless  this  is 
true.  We  know,  for  instance,  that  of  two  men 
similarly  trained,  one  may  vastly  excel  the  other 
as  mathematician,  musician,  poet,  artist,  philo- 
sopher, or  as  commander.  But,  when  it  is  further 
argued  that  the  mental  differences  which  we 
perceive  in  men  are  commonly  innate  in  the  same 
sense  as  their  physical  differences,  the  error  is 
obvious.  The  narrowness  of  the  range  of  possible 
physical  acquirements  and  the  width  of  the  range 
of  possible  mental  acquirements  are  not  taken 
into  account.  The  extreme  ductility  of  the  mind 
as  compared  to  the  body  is  forgotten.  Beyond  a 
few  deferred  instincts  which  have  been  evolved 


178         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

by  natural  selection  by  reason  of  their  utility, 
and  which  therefore  are  common  to  the  whole 
species,  the  entire  mental  difference  between  the 
infant  and  the  adult  is  due  to  the  acquirements 
made  by  the  latter.  On  the  whole,  instinct 
makes  the  individuals  of  a  species  alike,  not 
different.  The  mental  differences  between  adults, 
then,  are  due,  first  to  differences  in  innate  capacity, 
in  innate  power  of  making  and  utilising  acquire- 
ments, and  secondly,  and  to  a  much  greater 
extent,  to  differences  in  the  acquirements  that 
are  made  by  virtue  of  this  capacity.  The  nature 
of  the  mental  acquirements  depends  almost 
wholly  upon  the  individual's  peculiar  environment 
— on  his  experiences,  his  opportunities  for 
learning." 

The  exact  application  of  these  biological  truths 
is  of  such  immense  importance  in  the  under- 
standing of  how  man  may  live  the  greatest  life, 
that  it  may  be  well  to  give  a  few  very  simple 
concrete  examples  which  will  clearly  show  that 
an  individual's  mental  characters  are  almost  all 
acquired,  not  inborn. 

The  capacity  for  learning  to  speak  a  language 
is  an  inborn  human  trait,  but  the  language  which 
is  spoken  is  a  pure  acquirement.  A  child  born 
of  English  parents  but  placed  in  a  French 
household  immediately  after  birth,  and  hearing 
nothing  but  the  French  language,  would  be 
unable  to  speak  or  understand  a  single  word 
of  English. 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       179 

When  children  have  the  same  opinions  on 
political  or  religious  questions  as  their  parents, 
they  hold  these  opinions,  not  because  they  are 
born  conservative  or  radical,  anglican  or  dissent- 
ing, but  because  they  have  been  in  the  mental 
environment  described  by  those  terms,  and  have 
themselves  acquired  in  due  course  the  opinions 
offered  to  them.  That  is  the  reason  why  such 
things  as  politics  and  religion  are  found  to  run 
chiefly  in  families.  It  is  only  the  more  energetic 
minds,  the  minds  with  greater  powers  of  acquisi- 
tion, which  make  mental  acquirements  outside 
their  own  domestic  environment.  Thus  it  is  that 
the  man  of  travel  is  usually  broad-minded,  while 
the  stay-at-home  is  apt  to  be  a  bigot. 

But,  indeed,  one  need  go  no  further  than  to 
draw  attention  to  the  well-known  fact  that,  no 
matter  what  nation  a  man  belongs  to  by  birth, 
he  will  acquire  the  mental  characters  of  the  race 
amongst  whom  he  lives,  provided  only  that  his 
youth  be  passed  amongst  them.  Youth,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  the  great  time  for  mental  acquisition. 
Probably  very  few  of  us  change  our  mental  char- 
acters— our  opinions,  for  example — about  any- 
thing which  we  deem  of  importance,  after  the  age 
of  forty-five.  That  is  rather  a  sad  truth,  but  it  is 
a  truth  ;  were  it  not  so,  the  progress  of  the  world 
would  be  infinitely  more  rapid  than  it  is.  The 
social  reformer — the  socialist,  for  example — who 
aims  at  the  establishment  of  a  state  of  affairs 
utterly  opposed  to  all  the  opinions  which  the 


i8o         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

present  generation  have  acquired  from  the 
previous  generation,  will  preach  in  vain  to  the 
mass  of  the  older  voters.  They  are  not  sus- 
ceptible any  longer  to  an  acute  mental  infection 
of  this  kind.  Mentally,  they  are  immune. 
Politically,  they  are  immune,  having  suffered 
from  very  prolonged  attacks  of  conservatism  or 
liberalism  as  the  case  may  be.  But  let  the 
socialist  or  the  imperialist  bring  the  younger 
minds  under  his  sway,  and  they  will  be  found 
susceptible  to  new  ideas — doubtless  leaning  to  the 
one  or  the  other  side  as  they  are  influenced  by 
many  other  considerations.  Our  point  is,  not 
that  they  will  acquire  any  particular  set  of 
opinions,  but  that  they  are  susceptible,  and  have 
the  capacity  for  acquiring  whatever  opinions  they 
please.  That  capacity  the  older  individuals  have 
lost ;  they  can  no  more  change  their  opinion  than 
they  can  take  measles,  and  for  the  same  reason. 

"  To  sum  up  :  Man  is  mentally  a  bundle  of 
capacities  for  making  acquirements,  actual  ac- 
quirements, and  instincts  which  are  mainly  incite- 
ments to  make  acquirements.  In  the  case  of  any 
given  man  it  is  hard  to  distinguish  the  inborn 
from  the  acquired.  It  is  hard  even  to  estimate 
his  true  capacity  for  making  acquirements,  for 
this  faculty  may  be  largely  increased  or  diminished 
by  acquirement.  Nevertheless  we  are  entitled 
to  declare  that  in  the  mental  characters  he  ex- 
hibits acquirements  enormously  predominate 
over  inborn  traits  "  (Reid). 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       181 

"We  often  hear  of  hereditary  talents,  hereditary 
vices,  and  hereditary  virtues  ;  but  whoever  will 
critically  examine  the  evidence  will  find  that  we 
have  no  proof  of  their  existence.  The  way  in 
which  they  are  commonly  proved  is  in  the  highest 
degree  illogical ;  the  usual  course  being  for 
writers  to  collect  instances  of  some  mental 
peculiarity  found  in  a  parent  and  in  his  child, 
and  then  to  infer  that  the  peculiarity  was  be- 
queathed. By  this  mode  of  reasoning  we  might 
demonstrate  any  proposition  ;  since  in  all  large 
fields  of  enquiry  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of 
empirical  coincidences  to  make  a  plausible  case 
in  favour  of  whatever  view  a  man  chooses  to 
advocate.  But  this  is  not  the  way  in  which  the 
truth  is  discovered ;  and  we  ought  to  enquire 
not  only  how  many  instances  there  are  of  heredi- 
tary talents,  etc.  But  how  many  instances  there 
are  of  such  qualities  not  being  hereditary.  Until 
something  of  this  sort  is  attempted  we  can  know 
nothing  about  the  matter  deductively ;  while, 
until  physiology  and  chemistry  are  much  more 
advanced,  we  can  know  nothing  about  it  in- 
ductively" (Buckle). 

Is  there  not,  then,  something  mentally  inborn  ? 
Decidedly  there  is,  and  something  of  the  greatest 
importance.  But  what  is  inborn  mentally  is 
quality,  not  quantity.  The  human  mind  is  almost 
a  blank  at  birth  ;  but  it  has  vast  inborn  possi- 
bilities, capacities  for  acquirement  in  response 
to  the  proper  stimuli.  Those  stimuli  are  to  be 


i82         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

found  in  suitable  mental  nutrition,  mental 
exercise  or  use,  and  mental  protection.  The 
average  human  being  is  by  innate  qualities 
neither,  an  idiot  nor  a  genius,  but  is  possessed  of  a 
certain  amount  of  brain  tissue  which  carries  with 
it  the  capacities  for  average  development  of  mind. 
It  is  the  quality  of  that  tissue  which  varies 
innately,  and  which  determines  how  great  ment- 
ally the  individual  can  possibly  become  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances.  Similar 
quality  of  brain  tissue  is  necessarily  inherited 
from  the  continuity  of  germ  plasm,  but  it  must  be 
always  most  carefully  borne  in  mind  that  what  is 
inherited  is  a  given  capacity  for  acquisition — 
never  the  acquisition  itself,  in  spite  of  popular 
opinion  to  the  contrary.  The  mathematician 
does  not  hand  on  his  mathematics  to  his  son,  else 
would  that  son  have  no  need  to  go  through  the 
drudgery  of  early  mathematical  training.  When 
the  son,  too,  is  a  mathematician,  like  the  father, 
it  is  because  both  come  from  a  common  germ- 
stock,  which  gives  rise  to  brains  of  a  given  quality, 
a  given  capacity  for  acquiring  mental  traits.  For 
this  reason,  the  said  son  may  not  be  a  mathe- 
matician at  all,  but  a  musician — his  capacity  for 
acquisition  being  directed  into  another  channel. 
When  the  son  '  takes  after  the  father '  in  mental 
characters  it  is  because  of  similar  mental  en- 
vironment ;  he  is  given  the  same  kind  of  mental 
food  as  his  father  had  before  him,  and,  having 
inherited  a  like  capacity  for  acquiring,  becomes 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       183 

mentally  similar.  He  is  mentally  susceptible  to 
the  same  kind  of  influences,  and  also  mentally 
immune  in  similar  directions. 

Now,  it  is  because  the  innate  capacity  for 
making  acquisitions  varies  so  much,  that  all  men 
cannot  reach  the  same  mental  standard.  All 
cannot  acquire  the  same  mental  characters,  nor 
in  the  same  proportion.  Men  are  not  so  many 
mental  machines  turned  out  to  order — a  fact 
which  teachers  and  preachers,  reformers  and 
philanthropists,  often  seem  to  forget,  if  they  know 
it.  The  effort  to  make  all  men  think  alike, 
therefore,  on  any  subject,  is  a  biological  im- 
possibility. A  pint  pot  cannot  hold  a  quart ; 
neither  can  a  quart  pot  be  filled  by  a  pint.  The 
Smithate  of  truth  is  always  different  from  the 
Brownate  of  truth.  Hence  in  any  country  which 
is  free,  where  men  are  allowed  to  make  what 
mental  acquirements  they  wish,  uniformity  of 
thought  and  opinion  is  as  impossible  as  it  is 
undesirable.  Where  it  is  enforced,  as  in  some 
religious  systems,  the  result  is  intellectual  stag- 
nation and  mental  sterility.  The  number  of  men 
who  live  the  greatest  mental  life  will  vary  directly 
with  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  restrictions 
put  upon  mental  acquirements.  No  system 
which  demands  a  mental  conformity  to  a  type 
can  produce  mental  greatness.  In  order  that  all 
men  should  live  their  greatest  mental  lives,  it  is 
necessary  that  there  be  freedom  for  all  to  think 
as  theytlike,  and  equal  opportunity  for  all  to  acquire 


184         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

what  is  worth  acquiring.  Equal  opportunity,  be 
it  noted.  Will  it  then  follow  that  all  would  be 
mentally  great  under  such  circumstances  ?  By 
no  means.  All  have  not  the  same  inborn  brain 
quality,  the  same  capacity  for  acquisition.  The 
fittest  will  always  survive  ;  the  ablest  will  always 
be  at  the  top  of  the  tree,  and  never  more  assuredly 
so  than  when  all  have  equal  opportunity.  Mental 
equality  is  as  futile  a  dream  as  is  physical 
equality ;  both  are  impossible.  You  cannot 
make  a  silk  purse  out  of  a  sow's  ear ;  the 
most  that  can  be  done  is  to  give  the  sow's 
ear  every  opportunity  for  being  the  best  possible. 
That,  by  the  way,  is  more  than  has  ever  been 
done  yet. 

But  even  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances there  will  always  be  a  certain  number 
of  individuals  who  are  unable  to  live  a  great 
mental  life,  because  of  their  innate  deficiency 
in  quality  of  brain  tissue.  Such  individuals  vary 
from  born  idiots  to  those  merely  naturally  slow 
and  stupid.  Such  an  individual  could  no  more 
become  a  Kelvin,  than  Alexander  Pope  could  have 
become  a  physical  giant.  The  capacity  is  lacking. 
No  matter  how  favourable  the  environment,  the 
capacity  is  limited.  Every  teacher  of  the  young 
is  only  too  painfully  familiar  with  this  type  of 
mind.  The  unfortunate  possessor  is  no  more 
to  be  blamed  for  the  incapacity  than  is  a  Kelvin 
to  be  praised  for  his  ability,  that  is,  neither  is 
to  be  judged  on  that  score.  He  is  praiseworthy 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN'S  MIND       185 

or  blameworthy,  in  so  far  and  no  farther,  as  he 
makes  the  best  use  of  what  capacity  he  has,  what 
opportunities  are  vouchsafed  to  him.  Some 
there  will  always  be,  to  whom  anything  but  a 
very  low  standard  of  mental  development  is  an 
absolute  impossibility.  From  them  no  reason- 
able system  or  person  will  expect  much. 

But  fortunately,  the  average  person  has  a 
quality  of  brain  tissue  which  enables  him  to  make 
all  the  mental  acquirements  necessary  for  living 
a  great  mental  life — a  condition  we  find  far  from 
possible  in  the  purely  physical  sphere.  The  kind 
and  extent  of  mental  acquirements  which  may 
be  made  by  a  person  of  average  ability  in  a  life 
of  average  length  are  almost  inconceivable,  if 
neither  time  nor  opportunity  be  wasted.  This  is 
where  mind  surpasses  body.  Its  plasticity  is 
immense,  its  scope  apparently  unlimited.  Its 
growth,  unlike  that  of  the  body,  is  unrestricted — 
save  only  by  lack  of  opportunity.  How  great, 
then,  the  responsibility  which  lies  upon  any 
system  of  social,  political,  or  religious  education, 
which  seeks  to  say  to  the  human  mind,  '  Thus  far 
shalt  thou  go,  but  no  farther  !  ' 

Man,  therefore,  mentally,  is  composed  of  a 
certain  kind,  rather  than  number,  of  inborn 
capacities,  tendencies,  susceptibilities,  immunities, 
in  virtue  of  which  he  is  enabled  to  make  a  vast 
number  of  varying  acquirements  in  response  to 
stimuli.  His  greatest  mental  life  can  be  at- 
tained only  if  he  be  immune  to  those  agencies 


186         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

which  are  mentally  destructive,  and  susceptible 
to  those  which  are  advantageous  to  mental 
development.  What  those  agencies  are,  and  how 
he  may  attain  this  immunity,  has  now  to  be 
investigated. 


CHAPTER  XI 

MENTAL  IMMUNITY 

KEEPING  in  mind  the  object  of  our  enquiry, 
namely,  the  discovery  of  some  laws,  forces,  prin- 
ciples, agencies — call  them  what  you  will — which 
are  capable  of  application  to  every  part  of  man's 
nature,  we  may  now  look  a  little  more  closely 
into  mental  development  and  endeavour  to 
ascertain  the  conditions  under  which  man  may 
lead  his  greatest  mental  life.  If  we  can  ascer- 
tain even  what  prevents  his  so  doing,  we  shall 
have  firm  grounds  from  which  we  may  draw 
conclusions. 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  from  what  we  have  said 
already  as  to  man's  immense  capacity  for  mental 
acquisition,  that  the  whole  question  of  his 
greatest  mental  life  is  one  of  EDUCATION,  using 
that  word  in  its  widest  sense.  Everything 
depends  upon  what  he  learns,  and  more  especi- 
ally upon  how  he  is  taught.  In  earliest  life  he 
teaches  himself  by  means  of  his  few  instincts, 
acquiring  all  the  ideas  which  these  serve  to  give 
him.  The  child  takes  up  this  task  from  the 
infant,  and  by  means  especially  of  his  imitative 
faculty  he  becomes  more  or  less  like  his  corn- 
is? 


i88         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

panions,  young  and  old.  Indeed,  the  marvellous 
manner  in  which  a  young  child  can,  and  does, 
copy  its  elders  in  all  sorts  of  odd  little  ways,  is 
most  interesting,  and  sometimes  extremely 
amusing.  In  this  way  he  is  often  erroneously 
said  to  '  inherit '  such  and  such  peculiarities  and 
tricks  of  manner  from  his  parents.  The  imitative 
instinct  is  extremely  strong  in  many  children, 
and  markedly  present  in  all.  Ere  long  his 
sporting  instinct  introduces  him  to  a  world  of  new 
ideas  furnished  by  the  games  in  which  he  indulges, 
some  forms  of  which  are  common  to  children  of  all 
nationalities.  In  prehistoric  times  when  man's 
sporting  instinct  was  the  means  of  bringing  him 
his  daily  food,  his  enjoyment  of  the  chase  was 
that  of  both  work  and  pleasure.  His  work  was 
his  pleasure.  But,  as  civilisation  advanced  and  as 
the  means  of  subsistence  became  infinitely  varied 
and  more  sure,  he  was  no  longer  stimulated  to 
exertion  by  instinct,  but  by  his  reason.  On  this 
account  labour  is  distasteful  at  first  to  all,  and  is 
always  to  some.  There  is  no  instinctive  delight 
in  toil  as  suc"h,  though  it  is,  of  course,  perfectly 
possible  to  acquire  the  mental  characteristic  of 
delighting  in  work  and  its  results.  In  the  same 
way  the  child,  being  compelled  to  abstain  from 
his  continuous  instinctive  mental  and  physical 
work — his  play  and  sport — dislikes  intensely  the 
labour  to  which  he  is  put  when  his  education  is 
taken  out  of  his  own  hands  and  put  into  those  of 
his  teachers.  Too  often  the  system  adopted  is  in 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  189 

entire  and  absolute  opposition  to  his  natural 
instincts  ;  school  then  is  to  him  one  continual 
abomination.  "  It  would  be  difficult  to  devise 
anything  more  entirely  opposed  to  the  child's 
instincts  than  much  of  the  school-room  education 
of  highly  civilised  races.  Probably  no  child  can  be 
otherwise  than  somewhat  miserable  when  at  his 
lessons  ;  at  any  rate,  he  is  not  so  happy  as  when 
pursuing  his  instinctive  sports.  But  there  are 
degrees  of  misery.  The  child's  instincts  of 
curiosity  and  imitativeness  remain  as  aids  to  his 
teacher.  If  by  means  of  them  he  can  arouse  his 
pupil's  interest,  his  own  task  will  be  rendered 
easier  and  the  child's  lot  less  unhappy.  Work 
will  then  become  in  some  measure  a  form  of  play. 
In  some  measure  it  will  be  founded  on  instinctive 
activity  "  (Reid). 

The  tremendous  advance  that  has  been  made 
in  our  own  country  in  the  scholastic  methods 
for  the  young,  during  the  past  generation,  have 
been  precisely  upon  these  lines.  Those  of  us  who 
remember  our  own  early  introductions  to  school 
life,  and  compare  our  lot  with  that  of  most 
children  to-day,  are  indeed  thankful — for  them. 
The  introduction  of  '  object  lessons,'  '  nature 
lessons,'  and  so  forth,  has  made  school  in  many 
cases  a  veritable  delight  instead  of  an  intolerable 
bore.  But  great  though  the  improvement  is, 
there  is  still  room  for  much  more.  The  training 
of  the  teachers  still  leaves  much  to  be  desired  in 
many  cases.  Too  often  they  are  selected  and 


igo         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

appointed  because  they  have  proved  themselves 
capable  learners,  not  because  they  are  capable 
teachers. 

The  education  problem  is  a  scientific  problem 
which  concerns  the  living  of  the  greatest  possible 
mental  life.  It  should  have  nothing  to  do  with 
either  politics  or  religion  ;  and  yet,  strangely 
enough,  we  as  a  nation  insist  upon  our  educational 
methods  being  settled  upon  political  or  religious 
lines  !  Truly  a  deplorable  state  of  affairs  !  The 
methods  of  our  national  education  must  be 
decided  by  votes  given — at  their  best — from 
either  political  or  religious  convictions  !  It  is 
as  if  we  demanded  that  a  number  of  electrical 
engineers  should  paint  a  set  of  pictures  for  the 
National  Gallery — the  result  is  likely  to  be  as 
satisfactory  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  The 
truth  is  that,  as  a  nation,  we  have  not  realised 
what  education  is.  We  persist  in  regarding  it  as 
identical  with  instruction,  with  which  it  has  but 
little  in  common.  Education  is  the  drawing-out 
or  developing  of  the  mental  capacities.  In- 
struction is  merely  putting  something  into  the 
brain.  And  because  we  regard  these  two  essenti- 
ally distinct  processes  as  one  and  the  same  thing, 
we  have  devised  many  scientific  methods  of 
instruction,  but  none  of  education.  Our  teachers 
in  schools  and  colleges  and  most  of  all  in  our 
universities,  are  not  expected  to  do  more  than 
impart  knowledge,  at  the  very  most ;  too  fre- 
quently all  that  is  demanded  of  them  is  that  they 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  191 

produce  sufficient  evidence  of  having  themselves 
learnt  a  certain  number  of  facts.  Whether  they 
have  any  idea  of  how  those  facts  can  best  be 
imparted  to  others  with  the  best  results,  is  left 
to  chance.  The  common  experience  is  that  the 
most  accomplished  scholars  are  often  hopelessly 
incapable  as  teachers  ;  but  it  takes  a  long  time 
to  impress  this  truth  upon  those  whose  business 
it  is  to  appoint  teachers.  In  certain  spheres  of 
education,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the 
question,  '  Can  this  candidate  for  the  position 
teach  ?  '  is  never  asked.  All  that  is  asked  is, 
'  What  has  this  candidate  learnt  ?  '  Certain 
certificates  or  diplomas  or  testimonials  are  de- 
manded which  guarantee  that  the  candidate  has 
acquired  sufficient  knowledge  to  pass  certain 
standards  of  examination,  and  proficiency  in 
this  department  is  unquestioningly  accepted  as 
evidence  of  ability  in  the  other.1 

If  this  be  true — and  it  is  undeniable — how  much 
more  is  it  the  case  that  the  real  power  of  educating, 
the  real  capacity  to  draw  out  mental  suscepti- 
bilities, and  the  knowledge  how  best  to  do  so, 
is  sadly  neglected  in  our  system  of  education.  In 
the  case  of  the  young,  this  is  the  all-important 
factor.  It  is  not  implied  that  teachers  do.  not  do 
their  best — far  from  it.  Doubtless  they  do.  It 
is  not  the  teachers  who  are  to  blame,  but  the 

1  We  are  reminded  that  proficiency  in  one  or  other  branch 
of  athletics  has  been  the  qualification  demanded  in  some 
cases — concerning  which  comment  is  needless. 


192         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

system.  The  teachers  have  never  learnt  scientific 
methods  of  educating,  and  can  only  struggle  on 
as  best  they  can.  If  any  reader  thinks  this  an 
exaggerated  picture  of  the  present  condition  of 
educational  affairs,  let  him  ask  this  question — 
How  many  teachers  of  young  children  in  our 
national  schools  and  nurseries  have  any  idea  at 
all  of  the  order  in  which  the  various  faculties  and 
senses  in  a  child  are  capable  of  appreciating  minute 
differences  in  impressions  ?  How  many  teachers 
know  at  what  age  a  child  may  be  expected  to 
discriminate  between  closely  allied  sounds  and 
sights,  not  to  mention  ideas  ?  Half  the  faults 
attributed  to  children  are  due  to  their  senses  not 
having  yet  acquired  the  power  of  making  fine 
distinctions  in  sounds  or  sights,  as  are  manifested 
in  reading,  spelling,  or  writing.  The  tragedy 
of  it  is  that  the  children  have  their  ears  boxed 
for  being  unable  to  hear  and  their  eyes  dimmed 
because  they  cannot  see  !  There  is  no  greater 
crime — and  it  is  committed  daily — than  to  punish 
a  child  because  it  cannot  understand. 

Truly  we  have  but  little  science  of  education 
with  all  our  education  in  science  ! 

It  is  not  surprising  under  these  circumstances 
that  there  are  but  few  who  can  ever  lead  really 
great  mental  lives.  It  is  not  surprising  that  we 
do  our  national  thinking  in  a  very  crude  way — 
when  we  do  any  thinking  at  all.  Very  few  of  us 
were  ever  taught  to  think,  though  some  are  im- 
pelled to  do  think — untaught — for  themselves. 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  193 

Doubtless  we  are  told  sufficiently  often  that  we 
ought  to  think  more,  and  here  and  there  a  voice 
is  raised  protesting  that  in  all  the  rush  and  cram 
of  instruction  no  time  is  left  to  the  pupil  for 
thinking.  But,  it  is  one  thing  to  tell  an  in- 
dividual that  he  must  acquire  the  habit  of  think- 
ing carefully  ;  it  is  quite  another  to  show  him 
how  to  do  it.  As  we  have  said,  but  few  are  ever 
taught  to  think,  and  therefore  but  few  are  capable 
of  following  out  in  their  own  minds  any  pro- 
longed train  of  ideas  and  of  forming  reasoned 
conclusions  thereon.  When  the  ordinary  person 
says,  concerning  a  given  proposition  put  before 
him,  '  I  will  think  over  it,'  he  really  means,  '  I 
will  postpone  my  answer  for  a  time ' — which  he 
does,  under  the  impression  that  hi  the  interval 
he  is  thinking.  As  a  rule,  he  deludes  himself, 
except  in  so  far  as  the  subconscious  part  of  his 
mind  takes  up  the  process  and  thus  helps  him  to 
'  make  up  his  mind.'  Instances  of  this  process 
are  recorded  by  people  who  have  gone  to  sleep 
puzzling  over  some  point  or  other  and  who  on 
waking  find  it  quite  clear,  or,  who  wake  up  sud- 
denly, feeling  that  the  solution  is  in  their  mind.1 
Most  people  waste  a  shocking  amount  of  time 
putting  off  answers  to  questions  which  demand 

1  A  well-known  solicitor  told  the  writer  that  he  owed  his 
successful  career  to  solving  a  legal  problem  in  this  way 
when  a  junior  in  his  office.  He  woke  up,  wrote  it  down, 
and  presented  it  next  day  to  the  astonished  heads  of  the 
firm. 
N 


194        SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

prompt  action,  under  the  delusion  that  they  are 
going  to  think  them  over. 

A  scientific  method  in  thinking,  without  which 
it  is  impossible  to  live  the  greatest  mental  life, 
is  a  delightful  rarity  to  encounter.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  majority  of  people  are  utterly 
unable  to  appreciate  in  any  adequate  manner  the 
scientific  modes  of  thought  of  the  best  thinkers  ; 
their  grand  conceptions  go  over  our  heads,  not 
into  them  ;  and  what  is  grasped  is  but  a  caricature 
of  the  original.  It  is  probable,  for  instance,  that 
the  majority  of  Darwin's'  fellow-countrymen  are 
still  absolutely  ignorant  of  his  train  of  thought 
and  very  hazy  concerning  his  deductions.  Still 
less  do  they  realise  that  the  great  principles  which 
he  laboured  to  demonstrate  are  applicable  to 
every  sphere  of  existence — that  the  struggle  for 
existence  which  results  in  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  is  as  true  of  the  mental  and  moral  and 
spiritual  life  as  it  is  of  the  physical.  And  if 
we  have  not  realised  these  things,  why  have  we 
not  ?  Simply  because  we  have  never  been 
educated  in  thinking  by  scientific  methods. 

So  we  go  on,  treating  a  mob,  a  class,  a  family, 
a  nation,  as  if  they  were  all  so  many  machines 
made  to  a  single  pattern,  all  capable  of  absorbing 
equal  amounts  of  food,  drink,  facts,  and  ideas — 
expecting  each  individual  to  respond  in  identical 
degree  to  identical  stimuli.  No  effort  is  made 
to  educate  the  individual,  no  account  is  taken 
of  hereditary  tendencies  or  acquired  characters, 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  195 

either  to  eliminate  the  worthless  or  develop  the 
good  ;  all  are  treated  alike,  and  the  result  is  left 
to  chance.  Naturally,  that  result  is — to  say  the 
least  of  it — disappointing.  The  children  of  the 
far-off  mountain  hamlet  and  those  of  the  Man- 
chester city  slum  are  all  taught  practically  the 
same  facts  in  the  same  way  at  the  same  hours  for 
the  same  length  of  time,  regardless  of  everything 
that  has  made  them  what  they  are,  and  equally 
regardless  of  everything  which  could  make  them 
what  they  ought  to  be.  National  education, 
so-called,  ceases  to  be  necessary  at  a  certain  age 
or  on  reaching  a  given  standard  of  knowledge 
or  ignorance  ;  and  the  scholars  leave  school,  only 
to  find  that  all  they  have  had  taught  them  has 
fitted  them — for  nothing  in  particular  except  to 
swell  the  number  of  the  unfit.  They  are  not 
educated.  Their  capacities  have  not  been  drawn 
out  in  such  a  way  that  the  teacher  or  parent  can 
say,  '  This  is  the  career  for  which  this  child 
is  best  suited.'  Indeed,  too  often  all  the  in- 
dividuality has  been  stifled  in  the  effort  to  pro- 
duce a  given  type  or  standard.  Much  labour 
has  often  been  expended  in  making  the  child 
acquire  stupidity.  All  is  done  regardless  of  the 
individual. 

But  to  come  to  closer  quarters  with  this  ques- 
tion. Our  contention  is  that  a  faulty  system  of 
education  is  the  great  factor  in  preventing  the 
living  of  the  greatest  mental  life.1 

1  For  a  detailed  analysis  of  all  the  factors  in  this  question 


196         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

What  is  meant  by  a  scientific  method  of  educa- 
tion, and  what  is  not  meant  by  it  ?  For  one 
thing,  no  such  method  would  countenance  for  a 
moment  the  teaching  of  assertions  which  are 
known  to  be  untrue — for  example  that  the  world 
was  created  some  few  thousand  years  ago.  It 
does  not  mean  cramming  the  mind  with  a  number 
of  facts  connected  with  any  or  every  department 
of  science.  Cramming  in  a  science  is  as  bad  a 
system  of  education  as  is  cramming  in  a  language 
or  any  other  subject.  Scientific  education  means 
a  certain  method  of  dealing  with  facts,  and  especi- 
ally broad  generalisations,  things  known  to  be 
true.  In  that  way  "  the  pupil  is  supplied  with  the 
maximum  of  useful  information  (that  is,  informa- 
tion which  will  link  up  with  his  subsequent 
experiences),  and  with  the  capacity  of  so  mani- 
pulating this  information  that  his  receptive  powers 
are  not  diminished  beyond  their  natural  and 
inevitable  decay,  while  his  reflective  powers  are 
increased  to  their  utmost  extent."  That  places 
instruction  with  reference  to  education  in  its 
proper  place.  "  Then  from  his  subsequent  ex- 
periences he  will  derive  the  greatest  value  possible. 
A  '  classical '  education  errs  by  not  supplying 
useful  information.  A  dogmatic  education  errs 
by  destroying  the  power  of  utilising  experience. 
A  scientific  education  must  avoid  both  errors. 
It  must  not  waste  the  pupil's  time  by  imparting 

the  reader  is  referred  to  chap.  xxiv'.  of  '  Principles  of  Here- 
dity '  (Reid),  where  the  same  argument  is  elaborated.- 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  197 

knowledge  which  will  be  valueless  to  him,  and 
which  therefore  he  will  forget ;  it  must  not  blunt 
his  receptive  and  thinking  faculties  by  inculcating 
generalisations  in  such  a  way  that  he  shall  become 
incapable  of  profiting  by  fresh  experience.  Not 
since  Pagan  times,  when  data  of  science  were 
few  and  easily  manipulated,  has  scientific  educa- 
tion at  all  approaching  the  most  perfect  possible 
been  given  to  any  body  of  men.  But,  because, 
amid  the  competitions  of  an  industrial  civilisation, 
the  survival  of  the  form  of  mental  training  which 
develops  the  greatest  intelligence  is  alone  possible, 
the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  the  best 
possible  will  be  given  to  all  men.  The  nation 
that  first  applies  that  method  will,  for  a  time  at 
least,  be  the  leading  nation  "  (Reid). 

That  is  the  first  essential  for  a  scientific  educa- 
tion— the  instruction  in  data  which  are  true  as 
far  as  human  knowledge  knows,  and  which  are 
useful  for  future  use. 

The  second  essential  in  a  scientific  education 
is  of  greater  importance  still,  and  without  it 
there  can  be  no  possibility  of  a  great  mental  life. 
It  is  the  way  in  which  facts  are  taught.  This  is 
the  point  that  is  so  constantly  missed  or  ignored. 
It  is  assumed  that  facts  are  facts,  and  that  there- 
fore once  stated  there  is  an  end  of  them.  The 
mistake  is  a  vital  one  in  educational  method.  It 
is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world — and  it  is  con- 
stantly done — to  teach  facts  with  disastrous 
results  to  the  intelligence,  to  teach  them  so  as  to 


198         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

inhibit  mental  growth  instead  of  stimulating  it. 
This  is  an  infinitely  more  important  matter  than 
the  facts  themselves  ;  indeed,  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  it  is  possible  to  teach  falsehood  with 
good  intellectual  results,  and  to  teach  truth  in  a 
way  which  spells  intellectual  disaster.  To  illus- 
trate this  fundamentally  important  fact,  let  us 
take  a  concrete  example. 

"  Suppose  I  tell  my  child  that  the  earth  is  flat, 
and  succeed  in  surrounding  him  with  influences 
which  raise  in  his  mind  a  prejudice  in  favour  of 
that  belief  so  strong  that  he  will  ever  after  be 
impervious  to  rebutting  evidence,  and  will,  in 
fact,  regard  all  such  evidence  with  abhorrence. 
The  thing  has  been  done,  and  may  be  done  again. 
Then  all  people,  who  have  been  similarly  trained 
and  who,  therefore,  agree  with  him,  will  describe 
his  frame  of  mind  as  one  of  '  simple  faith,'  or 
'  stedfast  faith,'  or  by  some  such  eulogistic 
expression.  People  trained  according  to  the 
same  method,  but  in  a  different  though  perhaps 
equally  absurd  belief,  will  be  less  complimentary, 
as  will  be  those  who  know  on  positive  evidence 
that  the  world  is  round.  Now  since  in  this  par- 
ticular I  shall  have  abolished  the  child's  splendid 
human  power  of  learning  and  thinking,  since  I 
shall  have  rendered  him  as  incapable  of  profiting 
from  experience  as  a  purely  instinctive  animal, 
his  mental  condition  will  evidently  be  one  of 
extreme  stupidity.  A  human  being  cannot  be 
made  stupid  in  compartments.  If  he  acquires 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  199 

a  vicious  habit  of  thought  in  one  thing,  he  is 
liable  to  apply  it  to  other  things.  The  main 
injury  that  I  shall  have  done  my  child,  will 
be  due  therefore,  not  to  the  untrue  doctrine, 
but  to  the  way  in  which  I  taught  it.  Had 
he  been  educated  by  a  better  method,  he  would 
soon  have  discovered  and  repudiated  the  untruth. 
His  mind  will  have  been  more  than  burdened 
by  an  untruth.  It  will  have  been  enfeebled  and 
shackled. 

"  But  now,  suppose  that  I  taught  him  that  the 
world  is  round,  but  still  by  the  old  vicious  method. 
Then  I  shall  not  have  loaded  his  mind  with  an 
untruth  ;  but  I  shall  put  chains  on  it  nevertheless. 
I  shall  have  equally  limited  his  power  of  learning 
and  thinking.  He  will  hold  the  truth  as  he  held 
the  falsehood,  as  a  mere  superstition,  a  prejudice. 
I  take  it  that  a  superstition  is  not  necessarily 
an  untrue  belief.  It  is  a  belief,  true  or  false, 
held  in  a  certain  unreasoning  unintelligent  way. 
So  far  as  any  man  holds  a  belief  in  this  unreason- 
ing way  he  limits  his  power  of  learning  and 
thinking.  If  his  mind  be  loaded  and  limited  on 
all  sides  by  a  multitude  of  superstitions  and  pre- 
judices he  will  of  necessity  be  very  stupid,  very 
incapable  of  learning  and  thinking.  The  epithet 
is  opprobrious  ;  but  I  do  not  know  how  else  to 
describe  an  incapacity  to  revise  erroneous  beliefs 
and  opinions  by  the  light  of  fresh  and  perhaps 
conclusive  evidence. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  I  teach  my  child  that  the 


200         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

world  is  of  this  or  that  shape,  giving  data  and 
conclusions  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  his  mind 
capable  of  future  acquisition  and  thought,  I  shall 
have  greatly  enhanced  the  intellectual  value  of  the 
truth,  or  greatly  minimised  the  evil  of  the  false- 
hood. His  belief,  true  or  false,  will  no  longer  be  a 
superstition,  a  prejudice,  but  an  intelligent  con- 
viction, capable  of  revision,  and  worthy  of  the 
wonderful  human  intellect.  He  will  not  only  have 
acquired  knowledge,  but  also  that  without  which 
knowledge  is  useless,  the  power  of  drawing 
rational  inferences,  from  data  which  he  verifies 
habitually"  (Reid). 

Indeed,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that,  for  the 
purpose  of  drawing  out  the  faculties  of  the  mind 
and  enabling  it  to  live  its  greatest  life,  it  matters 
very  little  what  is  taught,  it  matters  everything 
how  it  is  taught.  The  truth  will  sooner  or  later 
assert  itself  if  the  mind  be  educated  instead  of  or 
as  well  as  instructed.  The  process  must,  of  course, 
be  gradual.  The  child  must  be  taught  some 
facts  simply  as  facts,  in  the  first  place  ;  but  at  the 
same  time  he  should  be  told  that  ere  long  the 
reasons  for  belief  in  these  facts  will  be  forthcoming 
— and  that  very  promise  should  be  the  reward  of 
learning.  The  instinct  of  curiosity  should  never 
be  suppressed,  inconvenient  and  awkward  as 
it  is  apt  to  be  at  times.  It  is  astonishing 
how  many  parents  endeavour  to  suppress  the 
child's  curiosity,  its  habit  of  questioning — mainly, 
we  believe,  because  they  have  not  the  courage  to 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  201 

say,  '  I  do  not  know.'  The  child  is  apt  to 
think  that  parents  are  omniscient ;  and  parents 
are  more  than  apt  to  encourage  this  delusion. 
They  are  found  out  sooner  or  later  at  the  cost  of 
breeding  distrust  in  the  child's  mind.  Far  better 
for  both  child  and  parent  would  it  be,  if  the  parent, 
on  being  asked  one  of  the  innumerable  questions 
put  by  children,  were  to  say  perfectly  frankly, 
'  I  do  not  know,'  or,  '  No  one  can  be  certain,' 
or  give  some  such  answer.  Instead,  the  rule  is, 
to  reply,  '  Don't  bother  me  with  such  questions  ! 
or,  '  You're  too  young  to  know  that,'  or  some 
other  such  evasion — recognised  as  an  evasion 
very  soon  by  the  child.  We  have  found  that  the 
simple  telling  of  the  truth,  though  it  involve 
confessing  our  ignorance,  gradually  brings  the 
child  to  understand  that  many  things  are  too 
difficult  for  us,  and  that  we  are  not  expected  to 
know  everything  ;  we  have  found  that  instead 
of  suppressing  the  natural  curiosity  the  child  is 
encouraged  by  that  method  to  ask  natural 
questions  with  a  view  to  their  being  explained, 
and,  if  they  are  not,  that  he  is  perfectly  contented 
to  wait  further  information.  It  is  a  mental  im- 
morality to  give  a  child  a  false  answer  with  the 
idea  of  satisfying  the  young  mind  temporarily ; 
the  shock  of  the  discovery  of  a  number  of  these 
subterfuges  destroys  in  time  the  capacity  for 
belief  even  when  the  belief  is  well  founded.  Any 
intelligent  child  can  soon  be  made  to  under- 
stand that  it  cannot  understand,  but  it  fails 


203         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

to    comprehend     the     necessity    for    its    being 
deceived. 

It  must  be  abundantly  clear  that  in  order  to 
live  the  greatest  mental  life  a  scientific  method  of 
education  is  the  essential  thing.  Every  effort 
must  be  directed  to  drawing  out  all  the  inborn 
faculties  so  as  to  enable  them  to  make  the  greatest 
acquirements.  The  mind  must  be  made  as  sus- 
ceptible as  possible  to  the  action  of  all  agencies 
which  can  contribute  to  its  development,  and 
rendered  as  immune  as  possible  to  all  agencies 
which  retard  that  development.  This  mental 
immunity  and  susceptibility  is  to  be  attained  by 
the  forming  of  proper  habits  of  mind,  habits  of 
thought  and  learning,  habits  of  reasoning  and 
enquiring,  habits  of  active  deliberation  and 
judgment.  The  secret  which  lies  at  the  basis  of 
successful  attainment  is  to  be  found  in  the  acquir- 
ing of  the  power  of  mental  concentration  by  a 
purposive  effort  of  will.  No  slipshod  mental  work 
will  produce  a  great  mental  life.  The  will  must 
be  trained  to  concentrate  upon  the  task  in  hand, 
be  that  task  thinking,  learning,  deliberating, 
judging,  or  observing.  The  ability  to  con- 
centrate the  attention  upon  any  given  mental 
task  is,  by  most,  only  acquired  after  long  effort. 
It  is  a  fatiguing  thing,  and  is  hence  avoided  by 
all  but  the  most  energetic.  But  it  is  the  whole 
secret.  The  successful  teacher,  preacher,  orator, 
statesman,  conversationalist,  is  he  who  has  the 
power  to  make  his  listeners  concentrate  their 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  203 

attention  upon  his  words  and  thoughts.  The 
greatest  mental  life  is  attained  by  him  who  can 
give  his  undivided  attention,  i.e.  concentrated 
attention,  to  the  matter  in  hand.  The  mind  is 
then  immune  to  other  influences;  they  become 
inoperative  and  pass  by  without  effect.  The 
scientist  engrossed  in  an  experiment  is  unaffected 
by  surrounding  noises  or  disturbing  elements 
which  would  render  the  reading  of  a  book  im- 
possible to  one  who  merely  wished  to  pass  the 
time.  The  teacher  who  concentrates  upon  his 
subject  takes  no  notice  of  the  slight  interruptions 
which  would  upset  a  less  concentrated  mind. 
The  listener  absorbed  in  following  an  orator 
takes  no  heed  of  time  or  discomfort ;  his  mind  is 
immune  to  any  influences  whatever  for  the  time 
being,  other  than  the  one  upon  which  he  is  con- 
centrating. No  two  phases  of  mental  or  intel- 
lectual activity  can  be  dominant  at  one  and  the 
same  time  ;  one  must  eclipse  the  rest.  In  the 
same  way  no  two  physical  agencies — diseases,  for 
example,  can  dominate  the  whole  system  at 
once.  One  excludes  the  other.  Cultivate  this 
power  of  becoming  mentally  immune  to  subsidiary 
impressions  of  sight,  sound,  hearing,  or  touch, 
if  you  would  live  the  greatest  mental  life.  It  can 
be  acquired  by  any  man  of  average  will  power ; 
in  some  it  is  a  natural  faculty.  In  its  absence  no 
man  can  be  mentally  great.  The  mental  inertia 
so  characteristic  of  the  great  majority  of  minds  is 
nothing  more  or  less  than  the  absence  of  the 


204         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

capacity  for  concentration.  The  particular 
method  adopted  to  gain  this  may  vary  with 
individual  tastes  and  peculiarities ;  but  con- 
centrate we  must,  if  we  are  to  live  the  greatest 
mental  life  possible  for  our  respective  inborn 
capacities.  Once  a  man  has  found  out  how  best 
he  can  do  this,  his  power  for  mental  work  is 
marvellously  increased  and  his  output  corres- 
pondingly great. 


CHAPTER  XII 

MENTAL  IMMUNITY  (Continued) 

AT  this  point  in  the  consideration  of  our  subject 
we  are  again  confronted  with  the  very  real 
difficulty  of  separating,  in  the  mental  sphere  the 
intellectual  from  the  religious.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  in  all  civilised  communities  in  which  systems 
of  religious  teaching  play  an  important  part,  those 
systems  very  materially  influence  mental  develop- 
ment. All  of  them  more  or  less  interfere  with 
that  freedom  of  intellectual  activity  which  alone 
can  be  described  as  the  greatest  mental  life. 
All  religions  seek  more  or  less  to  restrict  the 
natural  curiosity  of  the  human  mind  and  to 
substitute  for  the  results  of  investigations  certain 
doctrines  or  beliefs.  That  is  the  first  way  in 
which  religion  influences  the  mind,  namely,  by 
the  teaching  of  certain  beliefs  with  regard  to  man 
and  his  surroundings,  which  beliefs  are  intended 
to  form  a  guide  for  man's  life.  The  greatness 
of  the  life,  therefore,  will  obviously  depend  to  a 
large  extent,  upon  the  kind  of  belief.  But  that  is 
not  all  that  a  religion  does.  If  it  were,  there 
would  be  less  harm  done  than  there  is.  The 
second  and  more  important  manner  in  which  the 

205 


206         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

mind  is  influenced  by  religious  teaching  is  the 
method  by  which  that  religion  is  taught,  quite 
irrespective  of  the  beliefs  concerned.  We  have 
noted  this  point  already  in  connection  with 
methods  of  education,  and  what  we  have  said  on 
that  subject  is  exactly  applicable  to  the  question 
of  religion  and  religious  teaching ;  but,  in  order 
to  be  perfectly  clear,  it  will  be  well  to  repeat  a 
little  and  to  exemplify  our  meaning.  We  are 
endeavouring  to  find  out  how  the  greatest  mental 
life  may  be  lived ;  and  we  have  made  the  asser- 
tion that  religious  beliefs  and  especially  the 
methods  by  which  they  are  taught,  will  greatly 
influence  that  process.  Now,  be  it  noted  in  this 
connection  that  it  makes  not  the  slightest  differ- 
ence whether  those  religious  beliefs  be  true  or 
false.  What  does  make  the  difference  in  the  long 
run  is  the  way  in  which  they  are  presented  to  the 
mind.  The  orthodox  attitude  on  this  subject — 
and  this  applies  to  all  religious  systems — is  the 
acceptance  without  question  of  a  number  of 
dogmatic  statements  drawn  up  by  human  minds  in 
the  form  of  a  creed,  a  confession  of  faith,  a  number 
of  articles,  or  some  such  document.  These 
statements  it  is  the  business  of  the  religious 
teachers  of  any  sect  to  put  before  their  learners 
as  things  to  be  accepted  without  question  and 
with  little  or  no  attempt  at  explanation.  The 
amount  of  intellectual  doubt,  as  to  any  one  of  the 
dogmas,  allowed  to  a  man  will  vary  with  the 
particular  sect  to  which  he  happens  to  belong ; 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  207 

but  in  none  is  he  actually  encouraged  to  verify 
for  himself,  or  to  ask  others  to  verify,  the  evidence 
upon  which  these  are  based.  It  is,  of  course,  quite 
true  that  in  the  religious  sphere  the  beliefs  taught 
are  not  founded  upon  scientific  data,  that  is  to 
say,  data  known  to  be  true.  That  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  the  doctrines  themselves 
are  false.  It  simply  means  that  what  is  commonly 
known  as  religious  truth  is  to  be  accepted  as  an 
act  of  faith,  not  as  the  result  of  an  intellectual 
process.  Of  course,  it  will  be  readily  recognised 
that,  if  the  foundations  of  religious  doctrines  were 
ordinary  scientific  evidences,  faith  would  no 
longer  be  a  necessity — because  the  word  implies 
the  capacity  to  believe  in  the  absence  of  proof. 
It  is  precisely  this  capacity  which  a  modern  mind 
lacks  entirely,  or  is  less  and  less  willing  to  trust. 

It  is  not  our  present  business  to  enquire  whether 
the  doctrines  taught  by  any  special  form  of 
religion  are  true  or  false  ;  what  we  desire  to  show 
is  the  effect  upon  mental  development  of  the 
method  of  religious  teaching. 

"  Judged  from  the  intellectual  standpoint  it 
may  be  a  good  or  bad  method.  By  means  of  it 
are  produced  in  a  great  measure  those  mental 
uniformities  which  the  adherents  of  any  given 
religion  display  when  compared  with  another, 
and  those  mental  divergencies  which  they  display 
when  compared  with  the  adherents  of  other 
religions — mental  uniformities  and  divergencies 
which  are  commonly  supposed  to  be  innate,  but, 


208         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

which,  in  fact,  are  acquired.  If  a  religion  be 
taught  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  the  minds  of  its 
adherents  receptive  to  fresh  experience,  then  that 
religion,  however  false,  will  be,  at  any  rate,  no 
permanent  instrument  of  human  degradation.  Its 
false  doctrine  will  presently  be  discovered  and 
repudiated.  Its  true  doctrine  will  not  any  the 
more  be  denied  because  held  by  an  intelligent 
race ;  and  the  advance  of  knowledge,  possible 
under  such  conditions,  may  ultimately  confer 
on  them  the  high  distinction  of  removal  from  the 
category  of  things  believed  to  be  true  to  the 
category  of  things  known  to  be  true.  A  religion 
taught  in  this  way  will  be  associated  with  a 
changeful  and  progressive  civilisation  in  which 
many  great  men  arise,  for  supreme  intellect  will 
have  scope  and  ordinary  minds  will  be  receptive. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  religion  be  so  taught  that 
its  doctrines  are  held  as  mere  superstitions,  then, 
whether  true  or  false,  it  will  become  an  instrument, 
the  most  potent  conceivable,  of  human  degrada- 
tion. It  will  surround  and  limit  the  minds  of  its 
adherents  by  an  almost  impenetrable  wall  of 
prejudice.  It  will  inflict  on  them  premature 
mental  senility,  for  in  all  things  which  fall  within 
its  range,  the  minds  of  the  young  will  be  rendered 
almost  as  incapable  of  acquirement  as  those  of  the 
aged.  It  will  be  associated  with  a  state  of  society 
stagnant  and  inefficient,  and  because  inefficient 
corrupt.  Few  great  men  will  arise  under  its 
influence,  for  genius,  having  little  scope,  will  be 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  209 

stunted,  and  ordinary  men  will  be  nearly  as  non- 
receptive  as  insects.  To  be  great  in  any  useful 
sense  it  is  not  enough  that  the  worker  should 
possess  great  powers  which  he  uses  greatly.  It  is 
necessary  also  that  his  great  achievements  should 
be  recognised  and  appreciated  by  his  compatriots. 
Newton  would  have  been  ignored  during  the  dark 
ages,  Darwin  would  have  been  burnt. 

"  The  incalculable  stupidity  which  may  result 
from  vicious  methods  of  teaching  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that  for  ten  or  twenty  centuries 
the  adherents  of  two  rival  religions,  only  one  of 
which  can  be  true,  will  dwell  side  by  side,  and 
dispute  acrimoniously  the  whole  time,  and  yet 
be  unable  to  come  to  a  common  understanding 
by  the  mutual  elimination  of  error.  I  imagine 
that  no  sincerely  religious  man  will  deny  the 
existence  of  this  excessive  mental  inertia.  If  he 
will  not  admit  it  as  regards  the  members  of  his 
own  sect,  he  will  at  least  admit  it  as  regards  other 
sects,  the  adherents  of  which,  as  he  conceives, 
are  prevented  only  by  lack  of  intelligence  from 
perceiving  the  truth  which  to  him  is  so  clear. 
The  ecclesiastics  of  every  religion  hold  the  same 
beliefs  as  the  laity ;  but  they  are  much  more 
thoroughly  trained  dogmatically.  They  are 
supposed  to  be  learned  and  wise,  and  to  have  the 
best  intentions.  Yet  notoriously  of  all  men  they 
are  the  least  open  to  the  influence  of  fresh  evidence 
no  matter  how  conclusive  it  may  be.  For  instance, 
it  was  not  till  the  truth  had  been  known  for 


210         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

centuries  that  the  majority  of  European  ecclesi- 
astics admitted  the  spherical  shape  of  the  world. 
Here,  therefore,  it  was  not  the  doctrines,  but  the 
way  in  which  they  were  held,  that  was  the  prin- 
cipal obstacle  of  the  advancement  of  knowledge."  x 
We  are  coming,  therefore,  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  ordinary  orthodox  methods  of  religious 
teaching  constitute  a  very  serious  hindrance  to  the 
living  of  the  greatest  mental  life,  because  from 
their  very  nature  they  tend  to  stifle  enquiry  and 
to  discourage  investigation.  If  this  be  true,  and 
it  can  hardly  be  denied,  the  very  serious  problem 
arises  as  to  how  religious  truths  or  doctrines 
should  be  presented  to  the  minds  of  children. 
That  is  a  problem  which  is  clamouring  for  solution 
and  which  was  never  more  pressing  than  to-day. 
It  is  not  our  purpose  to  supply  that  solution. 
What  we  are  concerned  with  here  is  to  point 
out  the  inevitable  effects  of  present  methods. 
It  may  be — and  undoubtedly  is — a  difficult 
problem ;  but  one  thing  is  very  certain — that 
nothing  could  be  worse  than  to  teach  a  child 
a  doctrine — even  if  it  be  a  true  doctrine — in  such 
a  way  that  its  capacity  for  intellectual  develop- 
ment is  seriously  hindered.  Moreover,  even  if  it 
were  at  one  time  advisable — which  is  question- 
able— it  cannot  be  so  to-day,  because  the  scientific 
method,  being  in  vogue  in  so  many  other  direc- 
tions, the  individual  very  soon  becomes  irritated 
at  its  non-application  to  religion.  He  then  has  to 

»Reid. 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  211 

make  his  choice.  Either  he  must  apply  his 
scientific  method  to  his  religious  experience  or  he 
must  make  up  his  mind  that  he  will  keep  his 
science  and  religion  strictly  and  severely  apart. 
There  are  those,  often  whole  denominations,  who 
insist  that  this  should  be  done  and  who  do  their 
best  to  make  it  impossible  for  their  followers  to 
raise  any  questions  at  all  in  the  religious  sphere. 
There  are  others  who  are  so  constituted  that  they 
can  be  scientific  in  some  phases  of  their  character 
and  what  we  should  term  orthodox  in  others. 
But  the  tendency  of  the  day  is  to  an  application 
of  the  scientific  method  in  every  direction,  includ- 
ing religion.  In  fact,  it  looks  as  if  the  old  pro- 
phecy, uttered  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  many 
years  ago,  were  coming  true — that  in  the  future 
all  religious  roads  would  lead  in  one  of  two 
directions — to  Rome  or  to  Reason. 

After  what  has  been  said  in  previous  chapters 
it  will  be  readily  seen  that  this,  once  more,  is  all 
a  question  of  relative  immunity.  It  is  open  to 
every  mind  to  be  so  treated,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  systems  of  religion,  as  to  render  it  sus- 
ceptible or  immune  to  influences  outside  its  own 
denominational  lines.  Once  more  it  is  a  question 
of  the  formation  of  mental  habits  and  mental 
attitudes.  The  inborn  capacity  for  mental  ac- 
quisition can  be  developed  in  one  of  two  ways. 
The  mind  can  acquire  the  capacity  of  accepting 
religious  teaching  without  question,  and  by  long 
habit  can  render  itself  perfectly  immune  to  any 


213         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

temptation  to  question  that  teaching.  Intel- 
lectually, that  result  is  disastrous — as  we  have 
already  seen.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mind  can 
acquire  the  habit  of  searching  out  the  explanations 
of  observed  evidence  and  of  being  susceptible  to 
the  attraction  of  all  forms  of  religious  enquiry. 
That  is  the  type  of  mind  which  is  being  largely 
produced  to-day,  as  the  result  of  the  scientific 
methods  practised  in  so  many  directions  in 
modern  life.  The  greatest  mental  life  must  be 
that  of  the  widest  intellectual  freedom ;  it  must 
be  that  of  the  mind  which  is  susceptible  to  all 
sources  of  knowledge  ;  it  must  be  that  in  which 
the  natural  instinct  of  curiosity  has  been  so 
trained  and  educated  that  it  can  follow  up  to  an 
inevitable  conclusion  any  train  of  argument 
placed  before  it.  Such  a  mind  would  find  it  quite 
impossible  to  refuse  to  investigate  phenomena 
of  any  kind — religious  or  otherwise.  It  has 
become  highly  susceptible  to  the  scientific  method. 
We  see,  therefore,  that  methods  of  religious 
teaching  are  of  the  greatest  possible  importance 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  mental  life,  quite 
apart  from  the  consideration  of  what  might  be 
termed  purely  spiritual  results.  The  greatness 
or  littleness  of  a  man's  mind  is  chiefly  determined 
by  the  methods  of  teaching  to  which  it  is  sub- 
jected by  its  secular  and  religious  teachers. 
Orthodox  religious  methods  of  teaching  seek  to 
keep  the  human  mind  in  strict  bonds  ;  and  it 
was  not  until  men  once  more  began  to  read  the 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  213 

works  of  ancient  Grecian  philosophers  that  there 
was  any  real  attempt  made  to  throw  off  the  mental 
yoke  which  the  church  sought  to  impose.  As 
Reid  most  truly  says,  "  Wycliffe,  Luther,  and 
others  appealed  from  the  Church  to  the  Bible. 
No  event  in  the  history  of  the  human  intellect 
had  results  more  momentous.  It  conferred  on 
every  man  the  right  and  the  possibility  of  private 
judgment."  without  which  it  is  utterly  impossible 
to  live  a  great  mental  life.  That  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  appearance  of  the  modern  mental 
attitude  ;  and  since  then  men  have  been  claim- 
ing more  and  more  the  right  to  think  for  them- 
selves, and  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  that  right  is 
conceded  by  a  system  of  religious  teaching  that 
the  adherents  of  that  system  will  attain  mental 
greatness. 

We  have  still,  however,  a  long  way  to  go,  and  no 
better  evidence  of  that  can  be  found  than  the  way 
in  which  we  treat  our  children  in  the  sphere  of 
religious  teaching.  It  is  quite  impossible  to 
expect  the  greatest  mental  development  until  we 
have  reached  the  stage  when  we  feel  we  can  afford 
to  be  perfectly  honest  with  the  child.  No  one 
would  maintain  for  a  moment  that  we  are  so 
to-day.  Far  from  it.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to 
say  that  every  child,  almost  without  exception, 
is  deliberately  '  humbugged '  upon  matters  of  the 
greatest  importance  from  the  very  moment  that 
child  is  able  to  grasp  the  simplest  ideas.  We 
flatter  ourselves  that  the  children  are  satisfied 


214         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

with  our  attempts  to  '  put  them  off,'  whereas,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  merely  irritated  or 
amused  at  our  clumsy  attempts  to  deceive. 
Surely  one  may  look  for  a  time  when  reasonable 
and  truth-loving  parents  will  no  longer  think 
it  necessary  to  tell  their  children  deliberate 
untruths  from  a  mistaken  conviction  that  the 
truth  would  not  be  good  for  them.  It  cannot  be 
too  soon  realised  that  infinitely  more  harm  is 
done  to  the  development  of  the  child's  mind,  by 
burdening  that  mind  with  a  number  of  half- 
truths  or  absolute  falsehoods  which  sooner  or 
later  have  to  be  unlearnt,  than  the  teaching  of  the 
simple  truth  could  under  any  possible  circum- 
stances bring  about.  The  system  really  means 
nothing  more  or  less  than  the  adulteration,  often 
the  poisoning,  of  an  intellect.  If  it  were  only  in 
reference  to  certain  delicate  subjects  that  this 
pernicious  system  obtained,  there  might  possibly 
be  some  excuse  for  parents  and  teachers,  because 
there  is  undoubtedly  a  very  real  difficulty  in 
deciding  how  much  should  be  told  to  a  child 
concerning  certain  phases  of  its  life  and  at  what 
age  that  knowledge  should  be  imparted.  That, 
however,  does  not  mean  that  the  subject  should 
be  shirked  altogether,  still  less  that  what  is  told 
should  be  other  than  the  truth.  If  mothers  and 
fathers  could  only  realise  the  difference  it  would 
make  to  their  children  if  they  seized  upon  the 
opportunity,  at  the  right  time  and  under  the  right 
circumstances,  to  give  accurate  information  in 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  215 

the  proper  spirit,  an  incalculable  amount  of 
after-suffering  would  be  saved  and  an  enormous 
number  of  mistakes  prevented.  But,  as  we  say, 
it  is  not  only  in  these  matters  that  truth  is  sup- 
pressed. There  is  a  much  worse  side  of  the 
question.  Mothers  and  nurses  and  those  who 
have  charge  of  the  young  do  not  hesitate  to  lie 
most  deliberately  to  children  from  the  most 
selfish  motives  and  merely  to  save  themselves 
trouble.  Thus,  in  order  to  prevent  a  child  intrud- 
ing into  certain  apartments,  the  room  is  pictured 
as  being  peopled  with  terrifying  ghosts,  and  the 
time  of  darkness  is  made  to  be  synonymous  with 
danger  from  all  sorts  of  weird  apparitions  and, 
worst  of  all,  perhaps,  an  evil  spirit  is  painted  in  the 
form  of  a  hideously  realistic  person,  hi  order  to 
terrify  the  young  mind  into  an  automatic  obedi- 
ence. As  for  the  adult  who  poisons  the  child-mind 
with  absurd  ideas  simply  for  his  own  amusement 
to  ridicule  the  faith  placed  in  those  ideas,  no 
words  can  be  too  strong  hi  condemnation.  Fortu- 
nately there  are  signs  that  the  books  which  are 
published  for  children  are  becoming  more  and 
more  truthful.  "  All  these  lies  have  to  be  un- 
learned, frequently  in  suffering ;  and,  if  the 
unlearning  is  followed  by  excesses,  we  have  to 
blame  a  policy  of  mystery  and  repression  which 
has  created  an  unwholesome  curiosity  that  is 
quick  to  satisfy  itself.  Possibly,  if  man  were 
made  familiar  with  truth  in  his  youth,  he  would 
be  less  ill  at  ease  with  her  in  his  later  days." 


2i6         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Immunity  in  the  mental  sphere,  therefore,  means 
this.  A  man  must  make  himself  as  susceptible 
as  possible  to  everything  which  tends  to  develop 
his  mental  capacities  to  the  fullest  possible  extent. 
In  his  early  youth  he  has  no  choice — he  does  not 
teach  himself ;  he  is  taught.  Therefore,  the 
object  of  the  teacher  should  be  so  to  treat  the 
child-mind  as  to  render  it  susceptible  to  the 
reception  of  ideas,  at  the  same  time  educating  the 
power  of  discrimination  and  judgment.  It  may 
be  advisable  to  tell  the  child  plainly,  in  certain 
terms,  that  the  time  has  not  yet  arrived  for  full 
information  on  certain  points,  but  that  this  will 
be  imparted  and  explained  later  on.  These 
matters,  however,  should  never  be  misrepresented. 
In  most  cases  it  will  probably  be  found  that  when 
a  child  asks  a  question  naturally  it  has  reached 
the  stage  at  which  a  true — if  not  complete — 
answer  may  be  understood.  Nor  need  there  be 
any  hesitation  in  frankly  avowing  to  the  child, 
one's  ignorance  on  many  subjects.  They  should 
be  told  plainly  that  we  do  not  know,  if  that  be  the 
case.  The  sooner  a  child  realises  that  parental, 
scholastic  and  sacerdotal  knowledge  is  very 
finite  and  strictly  limited,  the  better.  The 
temptation  to  substitute  a  lie  for  a  confession  of 
ignorance  is  one  which  should  be  resisted  at  every 
turn. 

Under  the  scientific  system  the  young  mind 
would  grow  up,  ever  open  to  receive  the  truth 
from  any  source  whatsoever,  and  more  and  more 


MENTAL  IMMUNITY  217 

capable  of  discerning  error  and  falsehood.  It 
would  become  more  and  more  immune  to  all 
influences  which  tend  to  limit  and  confine  its 
intellectual  operations,  and  ultimately  in  its 
greatest  development  it  would  be  perfectly  resis- 
tant to  all  forms  of  mental  suppression,  no  matter 
whether  these  be  parental,  scholastic,  or  religious. 
Happy  the  child  whose  youth  is  so  treated  ! 

For  the  adult  who  has  been  the  victim  of  a 
mistaken  system  of  education,  a  system  which 
has  involved  the  suppression  of  many  mental 
energies,  the  problem  of  living  a  great  mental 
life  means  a  great  effort.  He  will  never  gain  the 
susceptibility  that  he  might  otherwise  have 
developed ;  but  still  he  can  do  very  much  to 
prevent  himself  becoming  completely  influenced 
by  such  mental  agencies  as  are  undesirable.  His 
faulty  education  has  rendered  him  partially  im- 
mune to  true  educational  influences,  instead  of 
making  him  more  susceptible  to  them.  He  must 
therefore  endeavour  to  regain  this  lost  suscepti- 
bility, to  allow  his  mind  to  be  open  to  the  reception 
of  mental  impressions.  He  has  been  taught,  un- 
fortunately, that  his  real  mental  strength  lies 
in  his  immunity  from  receptivity.  He  must  now 
learn  that  his  mental  power  must  lie  in  his  capacity 
of  judgment  and  discrimination.  He  must  search 
for  truth  in  every  direction  and  be  willing  to  find 
it  under  many  guises  and  be  always  ready  to  sub- 
ject its  claims  to  the  test  of  experience.  In  this 
way  only  can  such  an  individual  attain  that 


2i8         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

condition  in  virtue  of  which  he  is  enabled  to 
resist  partially  or  absolutely  agencies  destructive 
to  the  greatest  mental  life.  In  this  way  he  must 
change  the  direction  of  his  mental  attitude  ;  he 
must  become  immune  to  the  effects  of  his  faulty 
education,  a  faulty  religious  system,  and  as  far 
as  possible  to  the  effects  of  the  lack  of  opportunity, 
all  of  which  may  have  played  a  part  in  interfering 
with  his  mental  growth.  His  greatest  mental 
life  is  attained  when  he  is  able  to  resist  all  such 
agencies  of  mental  repression,  when  he  is  immune 
to  them  and  their  results,  and  susceptible  to  all 
mental  influences  which  make  for  intellectual 
development. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MORAL  IMMUNITY 

How  do  these  considerations  apply  in  the  sphere 
of  morality  ?  Has  the  law  of  immunity  any 
bearing  upon  conduct  and  habits  of  life  ?  If  it  be 
universal,  it  must.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  appli- 
cation is  as  obvious — if  not  more  so — here  as 
elsewhere.  The  processes  are  identical.  The 
greatest  moral  life  is  one  of  immunity  to  tempta- 
tion and  freedom  from  sin  ;  moral  immunity 
is  the  capacity  of  resistance  to  these  two.  A  man's 
moral  life  is  truly  the  exact  measure  of  his  sus- 
ceptibilities and  immunities  in  this  sphere, 
together  with  their  interactions  with  his  mental 
sphere.  We  use  the  term  morality  here  in  the 
sense  of  a  given  system  or  standard  of  conduct 
apart  altogether  from  any  specific  religious 
beliefs.  By  individual  morality  we  mean  the 
capacity  of  a  man  to  conform  more  or  less  to  the 
system  of  social  obligations  and  duties  which 
obtains  in  his  community.  Using  the  term  in 
that  sense  there  is  no  part  of  man  in  which  the 
law  of  immunity  is  more  plainly  a  guiding  prin- 
ciple. We  have  hinted  at  it  often  in  previous 
pages,  especially  in  those  habits — such  as  alcohol- 


220         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

ism — in  which  the  moral,  mental  and  physical 
are  mingled.  But  in  order  to  emphasise  our 
contention  we  may  consider  certain  definite 
moral  qualities  and  the  application  of  the  law 
to  them.  It  will  be  simpler  if  we  deal  with  the 
individual,  as  we  did  previously,  meantime 
remembering  that  the  law  applies  equally  to 
families  and  nations.  Moreover,  it  will  be 
necessary,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  to  deal  with 
one  recognised  moral  system  at  a  time.  The 
system  in  which  we  are  interested  is  Christianity, 
and  it  is  its  method  of  treatment  which  constitutes 
the  subject  of  our  problem. 

A  close  examination  of  the  lives  of  men  and 
women  very  quickly  reveals  the  fact  that  all  have 
some  power  of  resistance  to  the  many  various 
forms  of  temptation  by  which  all  are  surrounded, 
and  to  the  immense  variety  of  destructive  moral 
agencies  to  which  all  are  continuously  exposed. 
If  this  were  not  so,  every  one  would  be  immoral 
and  hopelessly  wicked.  A  godly,  righteous,  and 
sober  life,  would  be  an  absolute  impossibility  in 
the  absence  of  any  power  of  resistance  to  tempta- 
tion. Now,  this  universal  power  possessed  by  every 
one  is  an  inborn  character  varying  immensely 
in  amount  in  different  individuals.  In  some  it  is 
but  slight,  in  others  it  reaches  what  one  may  call 
an  average  standard,  while  in  the  exceptional 
few  it  is  very  great.  But  not  only  does  it  differ 
in  amount  in  different  individuals  ;  it  also  differs 
very  markedly  in  the  same  individual  in  respect 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  221 

of  different  moral  agencies.  The  temptations 
of  one  man  are  not  necessarily  those  of  another. 
Susceptibilities  to  moral  infection  in  youth  are 
neither  the  same  in  kind  nor  degree  as  they  are  in 
old  age.  Often  more  markedly  perhaps  is  the 
distinction  to  be  seen  in  the  case  of  the  twt>  sexes. 
The  amount  of  resistance  varies  therefore  with 
many  factors — race,  age,  individual,  and  sex, 
being  perhaps  the  most  obvious.  Nevertheless, 
the  resistance  is  present  in  all ;  else  would  every 
one  be  by  nature  entirely  evil.  There  have  been 
those  who  taught  that  this  was  actually  the  case, 
that  man  by  nature  is  utterly  sinful  and  contains 
nothing  of  good.  All  that  need  be  said  about 
such  a  statement  is  that  by  nature  man  is  neither 
good  nor  otherwise,  neither  moral  nor  immoral, 
but  non-moral,  with  a  capacity  for  acquiring 
mental  characters  which  enable  him  to  rise  to 
certain  moral  standards.  We  are  all  familiar 
with  the  fact  that  there  are  people  in  the  world, 
who  can  pass  unscathed  through  certain  moral 
infections,  who  remain  absolutely  untouched  by 
the  most  severe  temptation  in  virtue  of  their 
natural  power  of  resistance.  Those  same  infec- 
tions or  temptations  in  the  absence  of  that 
natural  or  other  protection  would  produce  moral 
death.  Such  people  as  we  have  mentioned  are 
naturally  good,  naturally  sober,  naturally  truthful, 
strictly  honest  and  so  forth,  in  virtue  of  their 
natural  resistance.  To  such  a  man  the  temptation 
of  the  offer  of  a  thousand  pounds  to  commit  a 


222         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

theft  or  to  tell  a  falsehood,  is  literally  no  tempta- 
tion at  all.  To  him  the  effort  of  resistance  is 
nothing.  The  resistance  that  such  people  possess 
is  no  credit  to  them,  but  it  is  something  for  which 
they  ought  to  be  most  profoundly  thankful. 

Next  we  note  that  this  natural  immunity  to 
temptation  and  sin — to  moral  infection — can  be 
increased  in  the  individual  by  certain  processes 
and  experiences.  Thus  it  may  be  increased  by 
continued  living  in  a  healthy  moral  environment 
to  which  the  individual  becomes  accustomed 
and  susceptible,  and  in  which  he  becomes  re- 
sistant to  other  environments. 

In  addition  to  this  universal,  natural  and  inborn 
power  of  resistance  to  moral  infection  we  observe 
that  some  individuals,  after  passing  through 
certain  moral  temptations  or  sins,  acquire  im- 
munity to  that  special  condition,  an  immunity 
which  did  not  exist  in  them  before  this  experience. 
This  is  not  a  universal  result  any  more  than  it  is 
in  the  case  of  disease.  We  are  reminded  that 
there  are  some  physical  infections — influenza, 
for  instance — one  attack  of  which  leaves  the 
individual  more  susceptible  than  he  was  before, 
while  there  are  other  physical  infections  after 
having  suffered  once  from  which  the  individual 
is  immune.  The  same  thing  exactly  is  seen  in 
moral  infections.  The  truth  remains  that  by 
some  persons  immunity  to  specific  temptation  is 
acquired  as  the  result  of  painful  and  sometimes 
degrading  experience.  Once  this  does  occur  the 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  223 

immunity  is  as  a  rule  lasting  and  permanent.  It 
is  not  a  natural  resistance  ;  it  is  acquired.  It  is 
not  by  any  means  an  inevitable  result.  It  is  an 
occasional  one.  The  individual  began  with  a 
susceptibility  and  has  become  immune  by  suffer- 
ing— an  immunity  which  conveys  safety  and 
protection  for  a  long  period,  as  the  result  of  the 
reaction  undergone  and  which  relates  only  to  that 
particular  condition.  The  thought  then  occurs  : — 
Since  immunity  to  temptation  and  sin  can  be 
acquired  by  experience  of  those  conditions,  why 
not  try  and  confer  this  immunity  artificially  by 
exposing  people  to  the  infection  ?  Well,  there  are 
people  who  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  that  process 
and  who  maintain  it  is  a  good  thing  for  people 
to  sow  their  wild  oats  in  the  hope  of  reaping  a 
moral  immunity.  Once  more  let  us  remember 
what  we  learned  in  the  physical  sphere.  It  may 
be  all  right  for  those  who  recover — though  even 
in  them  the  healed  wounds  must  leave  their 
permanent  scars.  But  the  whole  point  is  that 
people  thus  exposed  to  infection  run  the  risk 
of  death  for  themselves  and  become  centres  of 
infection  for  all  those  around  them.  The  law 
is  the  same  in  the  moral  sphere.  All  those  who 
are  so  morally  exposed  risk  moral  death,  and 
many  actually  die  ;  and  so  we  find  that  just  as  the 
state  interfered  in  the  sphere  of  physical  disease 
and  made  it  illegal  to  confer  disease  upon  people  in 
the  hope  of  rendering  them  immune,  so  the  moral 
code — Christianity  in  this  instance — steps  in  and  in 


224         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

its  sphere  lays  down  the  law  forbidding  such  a  pro- 
cess. The  risk  is  too  great,  the  process  too  cruel,  the 
numbers  who  perish  too  enormous.  It  is  not  justifi- 
able to  make  all  experience  the  effects  of  sin  in  the 
hope  that  they  will  become  immune.  Too  many 
perish.  That  is  Nature's  method,  not  Christ's. 

At  this  point  we  remind  ourselves  that  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
inborn  morality.  All  particular  forms  of  morality 
are  acquired  characters  in  the  individual,  and  in 
particular  we  remember  that  no  moral  characters 
partake  of  the  nature  of  instincts.  What  is 
inborn  in  the  individual  is  a  varying  power  of 
resistance  which  is  doubtless  co-related  to  in- 
timate physical  and  mental  peculiarities.  In 
virtue  of  this  varying  degree  of  inborn  resist- 
ance to  moral  infection,  the  individual  grows 
up  either  a  saint  or  a  sinner  or  somewhat  of  both. 
The  "  born  saints,"  as  we  term  them,  have  an 
inborn  capacity  to  develop  the  greatest  immunity 
to  temptation,  and  this  they  do  without  effort. 
The  "  born  sinner "  on  the  other  hand — the 
"  born  criminal,"  as  he  is  sometimes  termed — 
has  an  inborn  tendency  to  become  extremely 
susceptible  to  moral  infection,  which,  in  the 
absence  of  any  opposing  acquired  immunity,  leads 
to  extreme  degeneracy.  The  case  is  precisely  on 
all-fours  with  that  of  disease.  The  physically 
perfect  are  born  with  tendencies  to  develop  and 
grow  into  individuals  whose  tissues  are  highly 
resistant  to  disease  infections,  while  the  less  fit 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  225 

physically  are  those  in  whom  the  innate  tend- 
encies to  the  infection  of  tuberculosis,  the  action 
of  alcohol  and  other  similar  agencies,  render  the 
adult  a  ready  prey  to  this  condition. 

Individual  morality — the  capacity  of  living 
according  to  a  given  standard  of  social  ethics — 
is  chiefly  a  matter  of  inborn  tendencies  which 
become  susceptibilities  or  immunities. 

Turning  now  to  the  consideration  of  definite 
examples  of  this  law  in  the  sphere  of  morality, 
we  note  first  that  moral  characteristics  may  be 
either  mental  or  physical — the  one  doubtless 
dependent  upon  the  other,  sometimes  obviously, 
at  other  times  only  presumably.  But  it  is  con- 
venient to  think  of  the  two  as  distinct  from  each 
other,  because  mental  or  intellectual  immorality 
can  only  become  prominent  under  conditions 
of  highly-advanced  civilisation,  where  some 
given  standard  of  ethics  has  permeated  society 
and  has  been  accepted.  Physical  immorality 
on  the  other  hand,  that  is  to  say,  immorality 
which  partakes  chiefly  of  the  nature  of  excesses  of 
animal  passions,  appears  much  earlier  on  the  scene 
and  brings  man  into  closer  relationship  with  the 
lower  animals.  If  the  intellectual  side  of  man 
is  to  be  regarded  as  the  greatest  product  of  organic 
evolution,  then  one  must  also  regard  intellectual 
immorality  as  being  a  much  more  heinous  offence 
ethically,  than  physical  immorality. 

What,  then,  do  we  mean  exactly  by  mental  or 
intellectual  immorality  as  opposed  to  physical 
p 


226         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

immorality  ?  We  mean  simply  that,  given  a 
social  community  which  by  common  consent 
accepts  a  certain  standard  of  right  and  wrong, 
e.g.,  the  standard  of  Christianity,  that  standard 
applies  to  mental  and  intellectual  processes  as 
well  as  to  mere  physical  and  bodily  acts.  It 
means  that  there  must  be  a  standard  of  right  and 
wrong  thoughts,  that  the  mental  processes — 
ideation,  recollection,  imagination  and  the  like, 
are  to  be  judged  by  that  standard.  If  it  be  said 
that  these  things  partake  of  the  spiritual  life, 
then  we  answer  that  in  so  far  the  spiritual  and 
mental  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  which  we  are 
not  concerned  to  deny.  The  emotions  also  come 
into  this  part  of  our  subject,  being  partly  physical 
and  partly  mental  but  specially  associated  with 
the  mind  in  its  relation  to  the  special  sense  organs. 
So  that,  to  come  to  close  quarters,  the  names  of 
some  of  the  intellectual  or  mental  immoralities — 
sins,  we  call  them — are  as  follows :  "  Pride, 
vainglory,  and  hypocrisy,  envy,  hatred,  malice, 
and  all  uncharitableness  "  (to  quote  a  list  from 
a  standard  accepted  by  the  community).  To  this 
might  be  added  a  long  list  of  characteristics  all  cf 
which  are  condemned  by  the  same  standard — 
a  list  which  would  include  such  qualities  as  mean- 
ness, deceit,  dishonesty,  and  many  others  which 
we  need  not  specify.  The  opposite  of  these 
mental  traits  constitute  what  we  term  virtues, 
chief  amongst  which  may  be  placed  love,  truthful- 
ness and  generosity.  There  is  a  third  group  of 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  227 

mental  characters  which  it  is  not  so  easy  to  place 
in  the  category  of  faults  or  virtues,  traits  which 
in  fact  are  non-moral  but  which  are  nevertheless 
just  as  much  a  matter  of  immunity  or  suscepti- 
bility. This  group  would  include  such  char- 
acters as  fear,  courage,  and  so  forth. 

Applying  the  laws  of  immunity  to  these  char- 
acteristics, the  following  considerations  suggest 
themselves. 

(a)  Pride.  An  inordinate  self-esteem  or  un- 
reasonable conceit  of  one's  own  superiority  in  the 
possession  (real  or  supposed)  of  talents,  beauty, 
wealth,  accomplishments,  rank  or  office,  which 
manifests  itself  in  lofty  airs  and  scarcely  veiled 
contempt  of  those  less  fortunate  or  less  gifted — 
this  mental  attitude  is  a  mental  immorality.  The 
standard  of  right  in  the  matter  is  that  of  meekness. 
Pride  grows  as  the  result  of  allowing  the  mind  to 
become  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  thoughts 
of  arrogance,  of  haughtiness,  of  flattery.  A 
person  who  is  unaffected  by  such  ideas  has  no 
pride  in  the  sense  of  fault,  because  the  mind  is 
immune  to  the  influences  of  that  suggestion  or 
idea.  It  is  a  humble  mind — immune  to  the  in- 
fection or  temptation  of  pride.  The  difference 
in  individuals  is  a  matter  of  their  relative  sense 
of  the  difficulty  with  which  the  immunity  is 
acquired  or  the  susceptibility  yielded  to.  Those 
that  are  liable  to  this  form  of  mental  immorality 
must  ever  be  on  their  guard  against  its  action, 
until  in  time  the  mind  becomes  accustomed  to  the 


228         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

attack,  which  then  loses  its  danger.  Immunity 
is  gradually  gained  by  patient  effort.  That  im- 
munity may  be  transient  or  permanent ;  it  may 
be  proof  against  some  forms  of  the  infection  but 
insufficient  against  others.  But,  like  the  man 
with  the  tendency  to  tuberculosis,  if  the  suscepti- 
bility to  pride  be  yielded  to,  the  resulting  mental 
attitude  is  as  certain  as  is  the  physical  morbid 
product.  In  the  one  case  the  physical  environ- 
ment must  be  changed,  the  individual  placed 
where  the  agent  of  infection  is  either  absent  or 
where  he  becomes  more  resistant ;  in  the  other 
case  the  mental  environment  must  be  such  that 
the  destructive  agent  is  rendered  powerless  by 
antagonistic  influences  which  produce  the  possi- 
bility of  resistance.  Feed  the  susceptibility  to 
pride,  and  it  is  sure  to  develop  into  the  actual 
fault.  Strengthen  the  innate  resisting  power 
(possessed  by  all  to  some  extent),  and  the  mind 
remains  or  becomes  immune. 

The  most  accurate  statement  of  the  case  would 
be  that  the  early  infant  mind  has  no  actual  sus- 
ceptibility or  immunity  to  this  or  other  mental 
immoralities,  but  that  it  has  an  inborn  capacity 
for  acquiring  either  the  susceptibility  or  the 
immunity  in  response  to  the  stimuli  of  use, 
nutrition,  and  environment. 

(b)  Envy.  That  condition  of  discontent  ex- 
hibited by  the  sight  or  knowledge  of  the  superiority 
(real  or  fancied)  of  another,  or  the  success  of 
another,  and  usually  accompanied  by  some  degree 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  229 

of  hatred  for  the  individual  envied  or  with  a 
certain  amount  of  joy  at  his  discomfiture.  It 
is  therefore  a  complicated  mental  state,  and  is 
plainly  to  be  regarded  as  a  mental  or  intellectual 
immorality.  It  is  as  plainly  acquired,  not  inborn. 
All  that  is  inborn  is  the  capacity  of  the  mind  to 
become  susceptible  or  immune  to  ideas  of  an 
envious  nature,  and  this  tendency  may  be  de- 
veloped or  repressed  by  suitable  means.  If  the 
mind  be  encouraged  to  dwell  upon  thoughts  of 
envy,  it  becomes  more  and  more  receptive  to  them 
— more  tolerant  of  them,  more  readily  inclined 
to  act  in  accordance  with  them.  Susceptibility  is 
induced.  On  the  other  hand,  if  every  suggestion 
of  an  envious  nature  be  resisted  from  the  very 
outset  (and  all  have  some  natural  power  of 
resistance),  this  capacity  of  resistance  can  be  so 
developed  that  complete  mental  immunity  from 
this  form  of  immorality  may  be  acquired,  and  the 
individual  will  reach  a  stage  at  which  it  would  be 
impossible  to  excite  in  him  any  such  feeling,  no 
matter  how  much  the  success  or  the  superiority 
of  others  was  pointed  out  to  him.  That  im- 
munity may  be  permanent.  It  may  of  course 
partake  of  the  nature  of  a  general  immunity  to  all 
forms  of  envy,  but  usually  one  finds  that  it  is 
more  highly  developed  in  some  specific  direction 
than  in  others,  just  as  is  an  immunity  to  physical 
infection.  For  example,  immunity  to  the  envy 
of  wealth  may  quite  possibly  co-exist  with 
susceptibility  to  the  envy  of  rank  or  beauty  or 


230         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

talent,  or  vice  versa.  This  is  what  we  saw  take 
place  in  the  physical  sphere,  and  for  precisely  the 
same  reason.  The  general  power  of  mental 
resistance  to  mentally  destructive  agencies  can  be 
developed  in  response  to  the  stimuli  of  nutrition, 
exercise  and  environment,  just  as  the  power  of 
physical  resistance  to  disease  agencies  is  developed 
in  the  production  of  general  good  health. 
Specific  agencies  have  to  be  dealt  with  one  by  one 
as  they  arise — tuberculosis  at  one  time,  smallpox 
at  another — pride  by  one  effort,  envy  by  another — 
and  so  on.  The  ideal  treatment  of  course  would 
be,  to  acquire  an  immunity  against  all  these 
destructive  agents  by  one  combined  process. 

(c)  Uncharitableness,  Meanness.  This  form  of 
mental  immorality  may  take  the  shape  simply  of  a 
mental  attitude  of  judgment  or  may  be  actually 
translated  into  actions  of  harsh  conduct.  In 
either  case  its  basis  is  the  same.  Once  more  the 
mind  can  acquire  certain  tendencies  to  suscepti- 
bility and  immunity  in  response  to  stimuli  of 
nutrition,  of  use,  and  of  environment,  and  finally 
can  become  very  susceptible  or  very  immune.  The 
innate  quality  is  shown  by  the  ease  with  which 
the  one  or  the  other  is  acquired.  In  some,  the 
mind  readily  acquires  the  capacity  to  become 
mean  in  judgment  and  ungenerous  in  action  and 
conduct.  If  the  narrow  idea — the  mean  thought — 
be  allowed  to  repeat  its  influence  again  and  again, 
the  mind  becomes  more  and  more  accustomed  to 
that  mode  of  thought  and  action,  more  sus- 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  231 

ceptible,  and  is  finally  fixed  in  that  attitude.  On 
the  contrary,  if,  from  the  first  infection  or  tempta- 
tion, the  power  of  resistance  (possessed  in  some 
degree  by  all)  be  carefully  nursed  and  strengthened, 
it  will  become  more  and  more  impossible  for  that 
mind  to  hold  an  ungenerous  thought  or  to  counte- 
nance a  mean  act.  It  will  acquire  immunity  to 
such  temptations  or  influences.  Conversely,  the 
mind  becomes  more  susceptible  to  the  appeal  of 
the  charitable  thought,  the  kind  and  generous 
act.  One  mean  thought  or  action  makes  another 
easier.  One  generous  judgment  or  kindly  act 
inevitably  leads  to  repetition.  Here,  as  elsewhere, 
the  law  is  universal,  the  result  inevitably  thus. 

(d)  Lying.  The  act  of  telling  an  untruth  or 
the  thinking  of  a  falsehood  is  notoriously  a  matter 
of  the  acquisition  of  a  habit.  In  other  words,  it  is 
the  susceptibility  of  the  mind  to  a  moral  infection. 
Too  often  this  takes  its  origin  in  mistaken  methods 
of  education,  the  child  being  taught  that  it  is 
wrong — or,  at  least,  inexpedient — to  tell  the  truth, 
long  before  the  young  mind  can  grasp  the  idea  of 
expediency.  Most  children  are  naturally  truthful. 
That  is  to  say,  they  have  a  great  power  of  re- 
sistance to  this  particular  form  of  mental  immor- 
ality. But  the  time  inevitably  comes  when  the 
temptation  to  tell  a  lie  is  strong,  the  infection 
highly  virulent,  and  if  this  be  yielded  to,  the  next 
attack  is  less  easily  resisted.  One  attack  leaves 
the  individual  less  resistant  than  before — more 
susceptible ;  and  unless  great  care  be  taken  the 


232         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

mental  resistance  in  this  direction  will  become 
extremely  weakened.  When  we  speak  of  an 
individual  as  being  naturally  truthful,  we  refer 
to  one  whose  power  of  resistance  to  whatever  use 
or  attraction  a  lie  may  have,  is  great.  When  we 
speak  of  a  '  born  liar,'  we  refer  to  one  who  has 
become  extremely  susceptible  to  the  habit  of 
lying — a  habit  that  may  be  acquired  by  very 
young  individuals,  becoming  ultimately  so  pro- 
nounced as  to  render  them  almost  incapable  of 
speaking  the  truth  about  even  the  most  trivial 
matter.  There  are  undoubtedly  some  people 
who  literally  get  to  the  stage  of  being  unable  to 
speak  the  truth.  Sometimes  this  habit  is  allied 
to  physical  susceptibilities  of  one  kind  or  another, 
such  as  is  seen  in  the  case  of  alcoholic  degenerates, 
whose  habits  of  lying  are  notorious. 

Closely  allied  to  this  form  of  mental  immorality 
is  the  habit  of  exaggeration  which,  indeed,  is 
hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  lying  itself  and 
which  easily  drifts  into  it.  We  cannot  hope  to 
produce  minds  highly  resistant  to  falsehood  when 
we  are  so  chary  of  offering  them  the  truth.  We 
seem  to  think  that  the  truth  would  be  too  much 
for  them,  forgetting  that  the  mind  will  assimilate 
and  acquire  what  is  offered  to  it ;  and,  if  its  en- 
vironment from  youth  upwards  be  half  falsehood, 
what  wonder  that  a  truthful  person  is  a  compara- 
tive rarity !  If  the  child  were  told  nothing  but 
the  truth,  and  allowed  to  speak  nothing  but  the 
truth,  it  would  inevitably  grow  up  with  a  complete 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  233 

immunity  to  falsehood.  The  mental  habit,  here  as 
elsewhere,  is  the  result  of  an  acquired  susceptibility 
or  immunity  in  the  one  direction  or  the  other. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  examples.  The 
great  fact  is  that  the  human  mind,  as  well  as  the 
human  body,  has  an  inborn  power  of  acquiring 
susceptibilities  and  immunities  to  an  extent  far 
beyond  that  usually  recognised.  The  great 
difference  between  the  two  parts  of  man's  nature 
lies  in  the  fact  that  no  limit  can  be  set  to  the 
mental  acquirements.  They  follow  the  universal 
laws  of  immunity.  Habit  is  produced  by  re- 
peated processes,  just  as  a  path  across  the 
unbroken  snow  readily  yields  to  the  foot.  The 
path  is  soon  formed,  becomes  easy  to  follow,  and 
requires  an  effort  of  will  to  leave.  It  is  doubtless 
true  that  the  physical  condition  renders  the  mind 
more  or  less  susceptible  to  this  or  that  mental 
habit  or  attitude.  The  relation  between  the  two 
is  well  recognised  in  some  instances.  Perfect 
health  predisposes  to  good  temper  and  cheerful- 
ness, biliousness  to  despondency,  gout  to  irrita- 
bility. Some  diseases  have  a  contrary  effect. 
For  example,  tuberculosis  is  well  known  to  be 
associated  with  the  emotion  of  hopefulness  (the 
'  spes  phthisica  '  of  physicians).  Goitre  is  associ- 
ated with  nervousness  and  so  forth.  But  all 
these  conditions  follow  the  same  laws  which, 
indeed,  permeate  every  phase  of  man's  nature 
and  prove  that  mental  morality  is  simply  a 
matter  of  comparative  immunity. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
MORAL  IMMUNITY  (Continued) 

TURNING  now  to  the  more  ordinary  sense  in 
which  the  word  '  morality  '  is  used,  we  shall  find 
that  in  matters  of  actual  conduct  the  same 
phenomenon  presents  itself.  We  remember  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  instinctive  morality, 
and  that  no  "  human  individual  or  race  ever 
possessed  any  morality  except  such  as  was 
acquired  through  the  imitative  faculty,  or,  in 
rarer  cases,  through  reasoned  thought."  "  The 
extraordinary  diversity  of  moral  systems  in  time 
and  space,  the  sharp  contrasts  that  exist  between 
race  and  race,  the  swift  transitions  that  have 
occurred  during  history,  is  conclusive  that 
morality  is  not  other  than  an  acquirement." 
What  is  inborn  is  the  capacity  of  acquiring — 
possessed  by  all  in  some  degree  or  other.  The 
acquirement  takes  the  form  of  a  susceptibility 
or  an  immunity  to  the  various  items  in  the  moral 
code  in  response  to  the  attitude  the  mind  adopts. 
That  this  is  a  mere  question  of  immunity  and 
acquirement  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  what  is 
regarded  as  immoral  in  one  land  and  with  refer- 
ence to  one  standard,  is  not  necessarily  so  re- 

234 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  235 

garded  in  another  land,  and  with  reference  to 
another  standard.  The  great  difference  in  ideas 
regarding  modesty  is  a  striking  case  in  point. 

Of  the  actual  deeds  which  we  regard  as  infringe- 
ments of  the  standard  of  morality  some  are — as 
we  have  seen — chiefly  mental ;  others  partake 
more  of  the  animal  nature.  We  have  considered 
examples  of  the  former,  and  the  identity  of  the 
process  in  the  latter  admits  of  no  doubt.  In  this 
category  would  fall  to  be  included  such  sins  or 
immoralities  as  cruelty,  lust,  destruction  of  life, 
and  so  forth.  These  are  susceptibilities  to  the 
influence  of  animal  passions  which  are  the  rem- 
nants of  the  early  savage  life  of  man,  when  the 
only  standard  of  right  was  might,  and  the  only 
selection  of  the  fittest  was  a  physical  selection. 
We  are  therefore  quite  prepared  to  find  that  the 
inborn  tendency  to  these  immoralities  is  a  strong 
one  and  very  universal — as  indeed  is  the  case. 
Doubtless  here,  as  elsewhere,  there  is  great 
individual  variation  ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  the 
acquirement  of  immunity  or  a  great  increase  of 
what  natural  resistance  there  be,  most  human 
beings  tend  to  yield  to  this  temptation  in  some 
form  or  another.  The  cruelty  of  children — 
especially  in  young  boys — judged  by  an  adult 
standard,  is  notorious.  Regard  for  the  feelings 
(physical  and  mental)  of  others,  is  an  acquirement. 
It  is  a  susceptibility  to  other  influences.  Con- 
spicuous regard  for  the  preservation  of  life, 
especially  the  life  of  lower  animals,  is  a  high 


236         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

development  in  the  scale  of  ethics— a  mental 
acquirement  which  some  individuals  cannot 
attain.  The  high  degree  of  self-control  in  sexual 
matters  is  likewise  a  matter  of  acquisition — the 
gaining  of  an  immunity  to  certain  influences — 
though  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  factor  of  individual 
variation  is  well  marked. 

In  all  these  cases  the  inborn  tendencies  to  sus- 
ceptibility or  immunity  play  a  very  great  part  in 
the  result,  far  more  than  they  do  in  the  case  of 
mental  immunities,  because  the  limitations  on  the 
physical  side  of  man  are  so  much  more  definite 
than  are  those  on  the  mental  side.  Hence  it  is 
that  a  very  great  mental  life  may  be  found 
associated  with  very  great  physical  immorality. 
Physical  tendencies  are  terribly  unrelenting  and 
are  far  less  amenable  to  treatment  or  to  alteration 
than  are  mental  tendencies.  In  the  physical 
sphere  the  immunities  and  susceptibilities  of 
individuals,  families,  and  races,  have  become 
more  and  more  fixed  by  generations  of  selection, 
and  are  transmitted  by  heredity.  But  selection 
of  mental  characters  is  only  just  commencing. 
It  will  be  the  line  of  future  evolution. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  immunity,  most 
physical  immoralities  leave  the  individual  more 
and  more  susceptible  after  each  indulgence. 
There  are  individuals  in  whom  the  effect  of  one 
attack  is  such  as  to  render  them  immune  in  future  ; 
but  a  contrary  result  is  far  more  common.  We 
saw  this  in  the  case  of  alcoholism  previously 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  237 

considered.  To  each  of  these  different  "  lusts  of 
the  flesh "  or  physical  immoralities,  each  in- 
dividual is  naturally  susceptible  or  naturally 
resistant.  Some  are  susceptible  to  one,  others 
susceptible  to  others ;  some  immune  to  one, 
some  immune  to  others.  Thus,  one  individual 
may  be  quite  immune  to  the  temptation  of  physi- 
cal cruelty  and  at  the  same  time,  be  very  suscep- 
tible to  sexual  excesses.  An  individual  may 
be  extremely  cruel,  but  sexually  immune.  The 
most  extraordinary  contrasts  appear  at  times  in 
one  and  the  same  person — apparently  extraordi- 
nary, because  it  is  not  realised  that  these  are 
matters  of  definite  specific  susceptibilities  just  as 
are  disease  infections.  People  are  apt  to  think 
that  an  individual  possessed  of  a  generous  and 
kind  nature  should  also  of  necessity  be  a  strictly 
temperate  person.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
quite  common  to  find  the  reverse.  There  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  so.  Immunity  to 
one  specific  condition  has  not  necessarily  any 
effect  upon  another,  nor  any  connection  with 
another.  When  there  is  a  connection,  it  just  as 
often  involves  predisposition  as  protection.  The 
most  hopeless  drunkard  is  quite  frequently  a 
most  lovable  character  in  other  respects  and 
often  reaches  a  high  moral  standard  in  all  other 
matters.  Many  a  drunkard  would  not  harm  the 
most  helpless  child  or  animal  nor  be  in  the  least 
tempted  to  other  forms  of  physical  excess.  On 
the  other  hand  the  model  of  all  the  virtues  is  too 


238         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

often  a  most  unlovable  person — as  if  his  or  her 
immunity  to  evil  agencies  was  associated  with  an 
insusceptibility  to  many  other  influences,  especi- 
ally those  of  an  emotional  character. 

Given  the  inborn  tendency,  then,  the  individual 
character  becomes  physically  moral  or  immoral 
according  to  whether  the  tendency  is  overcome 
by  an  increase  of  the  natural  power  of  resistance, 
or  by  the  acquisition  of  immunity,  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  according  to  whether  the  tendency  is 
yielded  to  and  the  capacity  of  resistance  weakened. 
It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  consider  the  physical 
immoralities  in  detail.  The  facts  are  notorious 
and  the  explanation  is  obvious.  Each  stage, 
whether  upwards  or  downwards,  is  more  easily 
reached  than  the  last — the  immunity  gained  or  the 
susceptibility  increased.  Search  the  records  of 
juvenile  and  other  crime,  ask  the  school  teacher, 
parent,  or  pastor ;  better  than  all,  let  every 
reader  put  this  book  down  for  a  moment  and 
reconstruct  for  himself  or  herself  the  course  of 
events  in  relation  to  the  besetting  sin.  In  the 
physical,  as  in  the  mental  sphere,  the  greatest 
life  is  that  of  the  individual  who  is  immune  to 
destructive  agencies  and  susceptible  to  good 
influences.  For  the  average  person  neither  the 
highest  height  nor  the  deepest  depth  is  reached 
in  a  moment,  but  by  the  long  process  depending 
upon  increased  power  of  resistance  and  acquired 
immunity  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  a  weakened 
power  of  resistance  and  an  acquired  susceptibility 


MORAL  IMMUNITY  239 

on  the  other.  No  man  is  to  be  blamed  for  tend- 
encies in  one  direction  any  more  than  he  is  to  be 
praised  for  those  in  the  other ;  he  is  a  success, 
or  a  failure,  just  in  so  far  as  he  has  done  the  best 
with  the  material  given  him  by  nature,  and  has 
acquired  the  most  from  the  advantages  obtainable 
from  his  environment. 

The  conclusion  of  this  part  of  our  subject  is, 
that  moral  influences,  mental  or  physical,  con- 
form in  their  mode  of  action  to  the  general  laws 
of  immunity. 


XV 

EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY 

IF  our  contention  be  correct — that  the  greatest 
life  is  a  matter  of  one  universal  law — then  all  parts 
of  the  individuality  must  develop  in  accordance 
with  that  law.  We  have  seen  that  purely  intel- 
lectual processes,  as  well  as  physical  habits,  do  so 
develop.  They  follow  precisely  the  same  laws 
as  does  the  body  in  regard  to  disease  infections. 
Without  drawing  any  hard-and-fast  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  the  actual  nature  of  intellectual 
processes  and  physical  processes — all  of  which 
are  so  closely  dependent  upon  each  other — we 
may  still  conveniently  consider  another  phase 
of  the  individual,  namely,  the  emotional  part  of 
his  nature.  Emotions  may  be  considered  apart 
irom  volition  or  intellect,  that  is  to  say,  as  pro- 
cesses of  a  mental  and  physical  character  having 
their  own  peculiarities.  Emotions  are  usually 
regarded  as  of  one  of  three  kinds — those  of 
pleasure,  those  of  pain,  and  those  of  a  neutral 
kind  such  as  astonishment.  These  are,  of  course, 
non-moral  traits.  Amongst  them  are  the  emotions 
of  joy,  anger,  fear,  grief,  and  love,  and  the  analysis 
of  any  one  of  these  will  serve  for  the  whole  group 


EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY  241 

as  far  as  our  purpose — which  is  not  a  psycho- 
logical one — is  concerned.  We  shall  take  the 
emotion  of  love  for  our  example,  because  it  will 
perhaps  be  more  readily  seen  to  conform  to  the 
universal  law — though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all  the 
other  emotions  do  so  in  exactly  the  same  way. 
We  would  only  preface  this  part  of  our  study  by 
saying  that  it  is  extremely  important,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  all  systems  of  religion  depend 
very  largely  for  their  results  upon  their  power  to 
influence  the  emotional  side  of  their  followers  ; 
and  we  are  in  search  of  the  explanation  of  these 
results.  Doubtless  some  forms  of  religion  are 
more  emotional  than  others  ;  but  all  more  or  less 
appeal  to  the  emotional  side  of  man  rather  than  to 
his  rational  side,  and  especially  has  that  been  the 
case  in  the  past. 

It  will  be  simplest  if  we  take  the  emotion  of  love 
in  the  ordinary  sense — the  feeling  of  affection  for 
a  person  of  the  opposite  sex.  This  will  bring  out 
the  contrast  between  this  emotion  and  friendship, 
and  an  analysis  of  the  two  and  their  conformity 
to  the  laws  of  immunity  will  illustrate  this  whole 
group  of  phenomena.  Friendship  usually  in- 
volves the  idea  of  an  attachment  to  a  person 
which  proceeds  from  intimate  acquaintance,  or 
from  a  favourable  opinion  (that  is,  judgment)  of 
the  qualities  of  that  person.  But  it  may  be 
merely  a  mutual  intimacy,  utterly  regardless  of 
admiration  for  qualities  of  high  ethical  value — • 
which,  indeed,  may  be  absent.  Friendship  seems 
Q 


242         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

to  arise  in  one  of  three  ways.  As  existent  between 
two  individuals,  it  is  based  upon  (a)  a  common 
weakness,  or  (b)  a  common  strength,  or  (c)  a 
relative  weakness  in  the  one  individual  combined 
with  the  strength  of  the  other.  Friendships 
arising  from  the  third  condition  are  the  deepest, 
truest,  and  most  lasting. 

(a)  A  friendship  which  arises  from  a  common 
weakness  in  the  characters  of  two  individuals  ends, 
as  a  rule,  in  one  of  two  ways.    The  common 
weakness  which  at  first  attracted  the  two  persons 
becomes  in  course  of  time  a  source  of  irritation  to 
both,  and  a  mutual  intimacy  may  become  im- 
possible  on   this  ground   alone.     Or  a   happier 
result  may  follow.     It  may  be  transformed  into  a 
case  of  the  third  variety — one  of  the  individuals 
coming  in  contact  with  a  character  whose  very 
strength  is  his  own  weakness,  and  a  new  intimacy 
being  formed  there.     But  friendships  which  have 
for   their   foundation   a   common  weakness   are 
neither  deep  nor  lasting.     They  are  really  more 
of  the  nature  of  a  temporary  support  and  excuse 
for  both  individuals   than  anything  else.     Thus 
it  is  that  we  often  see  two  people,  who  have  a 
similar  susceptibility  to  a  particular  moral  defect, 
apparently  friends  on  account  of  this  common 
weakness.     The   intimacy   hardly   deserves    the 
name  of  friendship. 

(b)  The  case  of  a  common  strength  seems  more 
promising.     Two    strong    characters    invariably 
interest  each  other  ;  but,  for  friendship  to  ensue, 


EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY 


243 


the  strong  point,  in  this  case,  must  be  the  same  in 
both.  For  example,  two  men  are  engaged  upon  a 
study  or  an  investigation  of  the  same  subject, 
and  each  discovers  that  his  strength  is  the  other's 
also.  A  common  feeling  of  interest  is  at  once 
aroused,  and  a  friendship  results.  But  very 
often,  by  slow  and  imperceptible  degrees,  an 
unconscious  spirit  of  rivalry  not  unmixed  with 
jealousy  springs  up,  unless  both  are  immune  to 
these  emotions,  which  is  not  likely.  At  first  the 
spirit  of  rivalry  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  fresh  effort ; 
but  gradually  it  strikes  at  the  very  root  of  that 
friendship,  and,  as  the  one  succeeds  beyond  the 
other,  the  once  common  strength  becomes  a 
source  of  weakness.  That  is  not  to  say  that  this 
must  inevitably  happen,  but  friendships  developed 
from  this  source  generally  tend  to  that  result. 
Of  course  many  other  influences  may  make  their 
appearance  as  the  intimacy  proceeds,  and  those 
may  counteract  the  tendency  to  dissolve  the 
friendship.  It  will  then  become  a  case  of  the 
third  kind. 

(c)  The  elements  out  of  which  the  truest 
friendships  are  evolved  are,  a  weakness  in  one 
character  along  with  a  strength  in  another — the 
two  fitting  into  each  other,  as  it  were.  It  is  this 
which  accounts  for  the  common  observation  that 
the  greatest  friends  are  apparently  so  dissimilar. 
We  see  the  point  of  difference  in  the  two  char- 
acters, and  wonder.  But  often  we  do  not  observe 
the  one  common  point  which  is  strong  in  the  one 


244         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

and  weak  in  the  other — the  one  point  which 
causes  the  two  to  fit  together.  It  is  not  the  points 
of  difference  which  bring  individuals  into  mutual 
intimacy ;  it  is  the  different  degrees  of  strength 
on  the  point  common  to  both.  It  may  be  called 
a  dual  commonality.  For  example,  if,  in  the 
case  already  stated  of  two  men  equally  interested 
in  the  same  subject,  instead  of  their  being  equally 
brilliant  or  nearly  so  the  one  was  so  immeasurably 
superior  to  the  other  that  all  possibility  of  rivalry 
were  out  of  the  question,  then  the  common  interest 
would  be  likely  to  produce  a  real  friendship. 
For  example,  two  men  are  strongly  attracted  to 
the  study  of  the  Unseen  Power.  The  result  of 
their  study  has  resulted,  in  one  case,  in  the  loss 
of  all  belief  in  orthodox  teaching.  In  the  other 
case  the  man  has  become  more  and  more  con- 
vinced of  the  power  and  reality  of  spiritual 
influences.  With  such  a  combination  a  very 
strong  friendship  is  apt  to  result,  the  source  of 
friendship  being  a  common  interest. 

In  the  next  place  let  us  examine  the  emotion 
of  love  and  then  observe  how  both  love  and 
friendship  conform  to  the  universal  law.  This 
emotion  may  be,  and  often  is,  perfectly  in- 
dependent of  any  intellectual  appreciation  of  the 
person  for  whom  it  is  felt.  It  may  be  sudden  in 
its  onset,  and  felt  for  one  almost  a  stranger. 
Those  persons  in  whom  such  an  emotion  is  very 
readily  aroused  are  rightly  termed  '  susceptible.' 
This  emotion  often  precedes  friendship  in  point  of 


EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY  245 

time,  and  as  often  merges  into  that  state  in  lapse 
of  years.  But  the  fundamental  difference  between 
the  two  from  our  point  of  view  (which  is  not  a 
psychological  one)  is  a  question  of  sex  and  sex- 
influence.  It  results  from  that  subtle  influence 
which  is  always  in  operation  when  a  person  of  one 
sex  is  the  object  of  attention  from  a  person  of  the 
other  sex.  This  influence  is  very  hard  to  define, 
but  no  man  will  deny  its  constant  existence — still 
less  will  any  woman.  When  two  persons  of 
opposite  sexes  are  brought  together,  all  their 
thoughts,  words,  and  actions  are  modified  by  the 
mere  fact  of  this  sex-influence.  A  man  cannot 
speak  to  a  woman  on  any  subject  in  the  same  way 
in  which  he  does  to  another  man.  His  mental 
attitude  at  the  time  is  determined  by  the  sex- 
influence.  How  a  woman  speaks  and  thinks  when 
she  is  with  her  own  sex  alone,  no  mere  man  can 
say  ;  but  certainly  it  is  in  quite  a  different  mental 
attitude  to  that  adopted  when  hi  the  presence  of 
men.  This  is  what  is  here  meant  by  sex-influence. 
This  sex-influence  must  be  always  acting,  and  all 
individuals  of  both  sexes  are  more  or  less  sus- 
ceptible to  its  influence.  When  it  is  mutually 
strong,  the  two  persons  are  said  to  be  "  in  love." 
Such  a  state  of  mind  may  exist  quite  apart  from 
any  intimate  knowledge  or  appreciation  of  each 
other,  but,  unless  such  appreciation  follows,  the 
emotion  is  apt  to  be  but  transient — a  temporary 
susceptibility  to  the  influences  of  sex.  The  fact 
that  this  influence  results  in  a  pleasing  sensation  to 


246         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

both  man  and  woman  creates  a  desire  on  both 
sides  to  experience  the  emotion  frequently  and 
continuously — to  be  often  in  the  environment 
which  produces  it.  Should  this  happen,  the  ele- 
ments of  friendship  may  be  added  and  the  result 
be  a  combination  of  the  two — a  loving  friendship. 
Mere  sex-influence  soon  loses  its  force  for  most 
and,  unless  it  be  followed  by  the  elements  of 
friendship,  it  will  not  serve  long  for  any  satis- 
factory purpose.  In  fact,  in  place  of  the  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  emotion  of  love  there  may  not 
improbably  come  an  immunity  to  that  emotion, 
in  which  case  only  can  there  exist  a  real  friendship 
between  a  man  and  a  woman.  This  will  be  more 
clearly  seen  presently  when  we  have  applied  the 
law  of  immunity  to  this  emotion  ;  but  it  will 
perhaps  be  more  simple  if  the  various  possibilities 
and  combinations  of  these  emotions  are  expressed 
in  the  shape  of  graphic  formulae  somewhat  as 
follows : — 

Let  M  represent  the  Male. 

Let  F  represent  the  Female. 

Let  m  represent  the  male  indefinable  influence. 

Let  f  represent  the  female  indefinable  influence. 

Then  m+f=the  bi-sexual  influence. 

The  various  combinations  of  the  above  result  as 
follows : — 

M  +  M=  Friendship. 
F + F=  Friendship . 
M  +  F  +  (m+f)=Love. 


EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY  247 

The  combination  that  is  in  dispute  is — 
M+F-(m+f). 

which  would,  of  course,  result  in  Friendship. 
But  as  the  bi-sexual  influence  (m  +  f)  must  always 
be  acting,  the  inevitable  result  is — 

M  +  F + (m  +  f)= Love. 

Such  a  scheme,  however,  though  useful  from 
the  point  of  view  of  illustration  is  not,  of  course,  the 
whole  truth.  There  is  another  possibility,  namely, 
that  the  sex-influence  may  be  exerted  by  only  one 
of  the  two  individuals  concerned — perhaps  only 
by  the  male,  though  more  often  probably  only  by 
the  female.  In  that  case  there  would  result  a 
friendship  on  the  one  side  and  love  on  the  other, 
an  unfortunate  condition  of  affairs  which  is  not 
uncommon.  Thus  : — 

M + m + (F  —  f)= Male  friendship  for  the  female ;  or, 
F+f -f  (M  — m)= Female  friendship  for  the  male. 

The  first  of  these  two  cases  might  occur  if  the 
man  were  already  in  love  with  another  woman. 
In  that  case  he  is  immune  from  any  similar  attack 
from  another  quarter,  whilst  he  remains  suscep- 
tible to  the  influence  which  has  already  produced 
his  condition.  It  is  precisely  identical  with 
the  law  of  immunity  in  the  sphere  of  disease.  A 
person  under  the  influence  of  the  virus  of  smallpox 
is  perfectly  immune  from  any  further  attack  of 
that  same  virus  operating  from  another  source  of 


248         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

infection,  and  that  immunity  may  persist  for  a 
very  long  time.  Similarly,  in  the  second  case, 
if  the  woman  is  already  in  love  she  will  be  un- 
influenced by  the  male  sex-influence,  and  for  the 
same  reason.  In  both  these  cases  the  law  of 
immunity  would  produce  an  emotion  of  love  on 
the  one  hand  and  a  condition  of  friendship  on  the 
other. 

There  is  still  another  possibility,  however.  If 
both  man  and  woman  be  already  subject  to  this 
emotion  they  may  be  both  immune  from  further 
attack,  and  in  this  case  there  may  readily  be  a 
friendship  between  the  man  and  the  woman.  In 
such  an  instance  both  individuals  have  been  so 
thoroughly  vaccinated,  so  to  speak,  with  the 
infection  of  love  from  one  source,  and  the  sex- 
influence  is  already  acting  so  powerfully  from  that 
source,  that  any  other  influence  of  the  same  kind 
is  perfectly  inocuous,  and  leaves  them  untouched. 
Hence  these  two  may  establish  a  true  condition  of 
friendship.  The  conditions  and  actions  of  these 
emotions,  as  stated  above,  throw  light  upon  a  good 
many  cases  which  are  regarded  as  somewhat 
mysterious.  They  also  explain  why  it  is  that 
many  men  and  women  appear  to  be  the  subjects 
of  these  emotions  so  many  times  hi  their  lives 
before  they  become  the  possessors  of  a  lasting 
impression.  These  temporary  and  passing  con- 
ditions of  what  is  wrongly  termed  love,  are  nothing 
more  than  the  transient  effect  of  the  sex-influence 
in  a  susceptible  nature,  an  influence  acting  perhaps 


EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY  249 

strongly  at  the  moment  and  called  forth,  it  may 
be,  by  some  very  trifling  occurrence,  such  as  the 
touch  of  a  hand  or  the  glance  of  an  eye.  The 
attention  of  the  two  individuals  in  such  a  case  is 
concentrated  for  the  moment  on  each  other,  and 
the  sex-influence  creates  a  strong  impression. 
Then  the  mind  takes  up  the  process  and,  dwelling 
on  the  idea  of  the  pleasing  sensation,  magnifies 
it.  If  this  be  mutual,  the  two  persons  will  pro- 
bably continue  to  meet  frequently,  in  order  to 
renew  the  pleasing  sensation  experienced  in  each 
other's  presence.  Then  their  varied  characteristics 
become  known  to  each  other,  and,  if  the  reality  of 
these  when  experienced  is  hi  any  way  comparable 
to  the  preconceived  ideal,  there  is  every  prospect 
that  to  the  first  emotion  due  to  the  temporary 
action  of  the  sex-influence,  there  may  be  added 
the  mutual  appreciation  which  is  involved  in 
friendship.  But  on  the  other  hand  should 
circumstances  prevent  the  first  emotional  im- 
pression from  being  followed  up  by  succeeding 
ones — and  the  two  persons  not  meet  again — the 
effect  will  soon  wear  off,  and  in  most  cases  eventu- 
ally leave  absolutely  no  trace  of  its  former  exist- 
ence. Every  one  must  have  had  experience  of 
such  a  process  probably  more  than  once  in  a 
life-time. 

As  regards  the  statement  involved  above,  that 
friendship  between  man  and  woman  is  only 
possible  or,  at  any  rate,  more  easy  of  accomplish- 
ment when  both  are  already  in  love,  there  is  an 


250         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

exception  to  be  noted  in  those  cases  where  there  is 
great  disparity  in  the  ages  of  the  individuals. 
Such  cases  occur  with  young  men  and  very  much 
older  women,  and  vice  versa.  But  the  reason  is 
obvious.  It  is  simply  because  in  these  cases  the 
sex-influence  is  exerting  its  least  possible  effect ; 
it  is  at  its  minimum  possible  strength  of  action  and 
may  perhaps  be  altogether  ignored.  Instead  of 
an  emotional  process  it  is  an  intellectual  one,  and 
is  practically  the  same  as  in  two  individuals  of  the 
same  sex. 

But  if  the  law  of  immunity  be  true  for  such 
conditions  as  we  are  considering,  it  must  be 
capable  of  affording  an  explanation  of  all  the 
phenomena  ;  and  there  is  still  another  case  which 
was  put  to  the  present  writer  with  a  view  to 
testing  its  application  in  this  connection.  How 
can  those  cases  be  accounted  for  in  which  a  man 
falls  in  love  with  a  woman  '  at  first  sight,'  but  is 
prevented  from  following  up  the  impression  then 
made,  remaining  separate  for  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  when  opportunity  occurs  by  their 
meeting — to  put  it  briefly — '  all  ends  well '  ? 
Such  cases  may  be  accounted  for — supposing 
that  they  happen,  thus  :  The  first  impression, 
namely,  the  sex-influence,  was  produced  in  a  mind 
naturally  extremely  susceptible  to  that  kind  of 
influence.  After  that  took  place  the  mind  dwelt 
upon  the  sensation  produced  and,  converting  it 
into  an  intellectual  process  of  ideation,  built  up 
around  the  original  emotional  impression  an  ideal 


EMOTIONAL  IMMUNITY  251 

which,  in  course  of  time,  became  a  reality  to  its 
possessor — especially  if,  from  his  surroundings, 
no  second  impression  of  a  similar  character 
weakened  the  first  one.  The  process  then  can  be 
taken  up — no  matter  after  what  lapse  of  time — 
exactly  where  it  left  off,  and  the  result  is  only 
different  because  now  the  circumstances  are 
favourable  to  its  continuance.  In  such  a  case 
the  first  emotional  impression  rendered  the  in- 
dividual immune  to  a  similar  influence  from  any 
other  source,  while  still  retaining  its  power  of 
action  from  the  original  quarter. 

We  have  dwelt  at  length  upon  this  description 
of  the  emotion  of  love,  because  the  emotion  itself 
is  such  a  powerful  one  for  good  or  evil  and,  more- 
over, is  experienced  by  all  in  some  degree  or  other. 
In  addition,  it  exemplifies  extremely  well  the  way 
in  which  the  law  of  immunity  works  in  the  sphere 
of  the  emotions  and,  besides,  it  throws  light  upon 
the  working  of  that  law  in  many  mental  processes 
which  are  usually  associated  with  the  soul  of  man. 
All  possess  some  amount  of  susceptibility  to  the 
influences  of  emotions,  and  in  almost  every 
individual  one  may  find  examples  of  the  fact  that 
susceptibility  to  one  emotion  confers  upon  the 
person  so  affected  a  corresponding  immunity  to 
some  other  emotion.  This  is  a  fact  to  be  taken 
advantage  of  in  any  system  of  training  which  aims 
at  the  highest  life.  It  means  that  a  man's  whole 
life  may  be  dominated  by  a  sufficiently  powerful 
influence  of  an  emotional  character,  provided  he 


252         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

be  either  naturally  or  by  acquirement  sufficiently 
susceptible  to  that  emotion.  In  the  succeeding 
part  of  our  study  of  this  subject  we  shall  see  that 
this  very  fact  of  emotional  susceptibility  and  im- 
munity is  of  the  very  greatest  importance  from  the 
point  of  view  of  living  the  greatest  spiritual  life. 
Emotional  development — just  as  physical,  mental, 
or  moral  development — is  a  matter  of  conformity 
to  the  law  of  immunity. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY 

IT  will  be  well  at  this  stage  to  gather  together  the 
various  lines  of  thought  which  we  have  been 
following,  and  endeavour  to  see  how  they  have 
been  aiding  us  to  form  a  conception  of  human 
nature  and  its  possibilities.  It  would  appear  that 
this  conception  may  be  briefly  summarised  as 
follows :  Human  nature  may  be  regarded  as 
being  composed  of  two  great  parts  or  divisions 
which,  for  the  convenience  of  descriptive  pur- 
poses, may  be  termed  physical  and  non-physical, 
the  latter  portion  including  everything  which  we 
cannot  conceive  in  terms  of  the  former.  Accord- 
ing to  this  view,  man  is  therefore  liable  to  be 
affected  by  two  sets  of  factors — one  consisting 
of  actual  physical  influences  of  a  material  kind,  the 
other  consisting  of  non-physical  and  possibly 
immaterial  influences.  These  latter  are,  of  course, 
just  as  real  as  the  material  factors,  but  their 
precise  nature  is  not  fully  understood.  The  laws 
which  govern  their  action,  however,  as  well  as  the 
results  of  that  action,  may  be  understood  if  what 
we  have  said  is  correct,  and,  indeed,  we  are 
strengthened  in  the  conclusion  that  these  laws 


254         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

are  identical  with  those  which  are  found  to  exist 
in  the  physical  sphere.  Our  great  object  should 
be,  to  discover  the  laws  which  govern  these  two 
sets  of  influences  so  that  man  may  attain  his 
highest  possible  development,  both  physical  and 
non-physical.  Inasmuch  as  many  instances  in 
which  these  laws  operate  in  man's  physical  nature 
have  been  studied  and  the  law  discovered  as  far 
as  they  are  concerned — often  to  such  an  extent 
that  man  can  control  and  direct  them,  so  it  is 
maintained  that  it  should  be  possible  for  him  to 
discover  instances  of  their  operation  in  the  non- 
physical  sphere  with  a  view  to  controlling  them 
for  his  own  benefit  in  the  non-physical  part  of  his 
nature. 

There  are  certain  physical  processes  which  act 
upon  man  with  beneficial  results,  and  to  these 
processes  he  must  endeavour  to  make  himself 
as  far  as  possible  susceptible.  There  are  other 
physical  processes  which  are  observed  to  cause 
deterioration  to  human  physical  nature,  and  to 
these  processes — since  they  are  universally  present 
in  the  world  and  cannot  be  avoided — he  must 
endeavour  to  become  immune.  So  in  the  non- 
physical  world.  There  are  certain  influences  which 
develop,  elevate,  and  purify  man's  mental  and 
moral  nature ;  it  is  therefore  his  duty  so  to 
arrange  his  life  that  to  these  influences  he  becomes 
as  susceptible  as  possible.  There  are  other  in- 
fluences which  corrupt,  suppress,  and  ultimately 
often  destroy  the  mental  and  moral  nature  of  man. 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY          255 

These  conditions  are  also  universal  and  unavoid- 
able and  therefore  to  them,  also,  man  must 
become  immune.  Physical  perfection  should,  if 
possible,  come  first,  in  order  that  there  may  be  a 
healthy  mind  in  a  healthy  body  and  in  order  that 
the  moral  faculties  may  have  the  best  oppor- 
tunity for  full  expansion.  Disease  or  imper- 
fection of  any  kind  in  the  physical  nature  inevit- 
ably has  its  counterpart  in  the  mental  or  moral 
sphere  of  the  same  individual.  This  may  be 
regarded  as  evidence  that  what  we  deem  the 
non-physical  is  to  a  certain  extent  dependent 
upon  the  physical — often,  if  it  be  not  so  entirely. 
But,  since  the  nature  of  that  interdependence  is 
in  many  cases  unknown,  physical  processes  and 
non-physical  processes  will  of  necessity  have  to 
be  dealt  with  separately.  In  those  cases  in  which 
their  connection  and  relationship  is  clearly  estab- 
lished they  should  be  dealt  with  at  one  and  the 
same  time. 

Every  individual  is  born  with  a  certain  number 
of  both  physical  and  non-physical  tendencies. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  his  future  that 
these  should  be  accurately  determined  as  early 
in  his  life  as  possible,  so  that  the  individual  may 
be  placed  in  such  an  environment  as  will  encourage 
and  ensure  the  development  of  the  advantageous 
tendencies  and  the  suppression  or  elimination  of 
the  disadvantageous  ones.  These  tendencies  are 
for  the  most  part  inherited.  Here  and  there, 
one  appears  for  the  first  time  in  a  particular 


256         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

individual.  A  certain  proportion  of  both  the 
physical  and  non-physical  tendencies  can  be 
foretold  for  any  individual  whose  pedigree  is 
ascertainable  for  three  or  four  generations.  A 
certain  small  proportion  cannot  be  foretold,  but 
arise  in  accordance  with  some  law  the  operation 
of  which  is  at  present  unknown.  It  is  certainly 
due  to  these  unforeseen  variations  that  it  is  at 
present  impossible  to  control  entirely  man's  physi- 
cal and  non-physical  development.  The  discovery 
of  the  laws  which  govern  the  appearance  of  varia- 
tions is  merely  a  matter  of  time  ;  and  when  those 
are  fully  understood  man's  destiny  will  be  entirely 
in  his  own  hands.  Even  at  the  present  moment 
quite  enough  is  known  for  most  practical  purposes 
but — as  has  been  well  said — though  science  has 
shown  the  way  no  one  as  yet  proposes  to  take  it. 
It  is  further  necessary  to  understand  that  these 
tendencies,  both  physical  and  non-physical,  are 
to  be  regarded  as  falling  into  two  distinct  cate- 
gories. In  the  one  category  are  placed  those 
which  the  individual  possesses  in  virtue  of  being 
the  person  he  is,  or  because  they  are  peculiar 
to  the  race  to  which  he  belongs.  These  are  natural, 
innate,  or  inborn,  in  the  individual,  species  or 
race.  Every  individual  has  certain  of  these 
inborn  qualities  which  are  either  in  the  direction 
of  susceptibility  to  physical  or  non-physical 
influences,  or  are  of  the  opposite  kind,  that  is, 
in  the  direction  of  immunity  or  non-liability 
to  the  same  influences.  It  is  a  commonplace 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  257 

of  observation  that  one  person  can  withstand  a 
physical  strain,  a  mental  experience,  or  a  moral 
temptation,  which  would  be  either  fatal  or  im- 
possible to  another  individual.  This  is  because 
the  former  person  has  a  greater  degree  of  natural 
resistance  to  these  particular  influences  than  the 
latter.  Every  individual  has  some  amount  of 
this  natural  resistance ;  else  would  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  life  be  an  impossibility.  We 
have,  then,  in  the  first  place,  a  number  of  physical 
and  non-physical  qualities  in  every  person  which 
are  termed  natural,  innate,  or  inborn,  and  these 
tendencies  render  that  individual  more  or  less 
liable,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  certain  agencies 
or  influences  corresponding  to  them. 

But  there  is  a  second  category  not  less  im- 
portant. It  is  again  a  commonplace  of  observa- 
tion that  a  person  who  was  at  one  period  of  his 
life  extremely  liable  to  be  affected  by  some 
particular  physical  or  non-physical  influence  is 
now  no  longer  so  affected,  no  longer  apparently 
subject  to  this  influence.  In  other  words,  he 
has  acquired  a  resistance  which  was  not  natural  in 
the  sense  of  being  inborn.  He  may  have  acquired 
this  resistance  or  immunity  as  the  result  of 
suffering  or  experience  or  habit,  or  from  the 
example  of  others  ;  but  in  any  case  it  is  a  new 
thing  in  his  life — an  acquired  character.  And, 
just  as  he  may  acquire  this  power  of  resistance  to 
physical  influences  as  instanced  in  certain  diseases 
which  do  not  attack  the  same  individual  more  than 


258        SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

once,  so,  unfortunately,  he  may  acquire  the  new 
character  of  being  more  liable  to  this  particular 
influence  than  he  was  before.  This  likewise 
applies  to  the  non-physical  world.  In  both 
spheres  we  recognise  the  second  category  of 
tendencies  which  we  term  acquired,  in  opposition 
to  the  first  class  which  we  term  natural,  innate, 
or  inborn. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once,  therefore,  that  the 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  qualities  of  any 
individual  depend  upon  the  sum  total  of  the 
action  of  these  natural  and  acquired  characters. 
And  if  this  conception  be  true,  as  we  believe  it  is, 
human  nature — which  is  apt  to  be  regarded  as 
a  most  complex  mechanism — is  in  reality  a  com- 
paratively simple  mechanism  which  for  the  sake 
of  clearness  may  be  represented  thus  : — 
TOTAL  INDIVIDUALITY 


Inr 

Physical                     No 

n-Physical 

ate                   Acquired 

Innate 

Susceptibilities  &  Immunities     Susceptibilities  &  Immunities 


ADVANTAGEOUS  OR  DISADVANTAGEOUS 
It  is  impossible  to  conceive  any  part  of  human 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  259 

nature  which  is  not  the  result  of  one  or  other  of 
the  factors  thus  indicated.  The  total  individual 
character  or  personality,  physical,  and  non- 
physical,  depends  upon  the  relative  proportions 
of  these  different  elements,  and  especially  upon 
whether  the  protective  or  the  destructive  ten- 
dencies predominate.  Nothing  can  come  into  a 
man's  life,  save  through  one  or  other  of  these 
channels.  The  whole  is  the  sum  of  the  parts. 
All  that  a  man  is,  has  been,  or  may  ever  be,  is 
expressed  in  these  factors.  Life  and  death,  good 
and  evil,  ability  and  stupidity,  mortality  and 
immortality,  are  matters  of  susceptibility  and 
immunity.  Looked  at  in  this  way,  life  is  a  con- 
dition of  matter  in  which  it  is  susceptible  to  such 
agencies  as  confer  upon  it  the  power  of  growth, 
assimilation,  and  reproduction ;  death  is  the 
result  of  the  susceptibility  to  the  influences 
which  make  for  physical  decay  and  destruction. 
Good  is  immunity  to  influences  of  evil ;  and  evil 
is  insusceptibility  to  influences  of  good.  Mor- 
tality is  the  susceptibility  in  any  phase  of  life 
to  destructive  agencies  ;  immortality  is  a  mental 
conception  of  a  condition  in  which  there  would  be 
complete  immunity  from  all  such  influences.  It 
is  conceivable  that  an  immunity  from  death  might 
be  secured  in  course  of  time,  as  man  becomes 
familiar  with  the  laws  of  life  at  its  origin  ;  but 
the  idea  of  unending  existence  in  any  one  state 
is  quite  another  matter.  It  would  seem  as  if 
adaptive  change  must  be  ever  in  operation,  and 


260         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

in  that  case  everlasting  life  must  be  of  such  a 
kind  as  cannot  be  conceived,  at  present,  by  any 
human  mind. 

Such,  in  brief  summary,  is  the  conception  to 
which  we  are  led  by  the  consideration  of  the 
facts  adduced.  It  involves  the  belief  that  man 
can  attain  to  this  and  avoid  that,  by  placing  him- 
self under  the  influence  of  certain  agencies  and 
avoiding  the  influence  of  others.  As  long  as  he 
is  too  young  to  choose  for  himself,  he  must  be 
guided  by  the  experience  of  his  elders.  The  only 
difficulty  in  the  practical  application  lies  in  the 
unknown  factor  of  variation  ;  but  that  is  a  diffi- 
culty which  occurs  only  in  exceptional  cases.  For 
the  mass  of  mankind,  the  way  is  clear.  In  ninety- 
nine  per  cent,  of  cases  the  result  can  be  foretold 
with  certainty.  In  the  one  exceptional  case  some 
factor — which  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge 
cannot  be  estimated — comes  into  play  and  pro- 
duces results — good  or  bad — which  seem  astonish- 
ing, as  indeed  they  are.  This  is  the  factor  of 
personal  variation  or  idiosyncrasy,  proverbially 
recognised  in  such  common  phrases  as,  "  What 
is  one  man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison."  As  a 
rule,  however,  these  variations  are  so  small  that 
they  serve  only  to  differentiate  personalities — not 
to  upset  the  results  of  processes.  They  cause  these 
results  to  differ  in  degree  rather  than  in  kind,  just 
as  agiven  dose  of  a  drug  produces  more  or  less  action 
— but  the  same  kind  of  action — in  different  indi- 
viduals according  to  their  varying  susceptibility. 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  261 

In  the  physical  sphere,  the  greatest  life  is 
that  of  the  man  who  is  naturally  and  by  acquire- 
ment most  immune  to  all  that  is  detrimental 
to  his  perfect  development.  His  highest  aim 
is  to  render  himself  so  immune,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  become  as  susceptible  as  possible  to  all 
that  is  conducive  to  physical  perfection. 

In  the  non-physical  sphere,  the  greatest  life 
is  that  of  the  man  who  is  naturally  and  by  acquire- 
ment most  immune  to  all  that  is  destructive  to 
his  perfect  development.  His  highest  aim  is  to 
render  himself  as  susceptible  as  possible  to  all 
that  is  conducive  to  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual 
perfection. 

If  this  view  of  human  nature  be  the  true  one, 
then  it  of  necessity  follows  that  the  spiritual  life 
must  be  contained  somewhere  within  it  and  that 
the  phenomena  known  as  spiritual  are  capable  of 
explanation. 

The  possibilities  for  the  formation  of  char- 
acter in  any  individual — and,  after  all,  char- 
acter is  the  thing  which  is  at  stake — are  simply 
the  sum  total  of  the  susceptibilities  and  immunities 
of  that  individual  for  good  or  evil.  What  exactly 
is  good  and  what  exactly  is  evil,  can  only  be  judged 
in  the  terms  of  some  standard  set  up  by  general 
consent  as  the  result  of  the  experience  of  a  com- 
munity, or  else  put  forward  as  a  personal  con- 
ception by  some  individual.  In  the  latter  case, 
we  have  the  founding  of  a  creed,  or  a  system  of 
religion,  originating  in  some  individual  whose 


262         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

mental  and  moral  perceptions  appear  to  be  far 
in  advance  of  his  time  but  which,  in  reality,  are 
the  product  of  all  that  has  gone  before.  There 
can  be  no  such  thing  in  human  life  as  absolute 
good  or  absolute  evil.  Both  terms  are  meaning- 
less, except  in  reference  to  some  recognised 
standard.  Given  the  standard — for  instance, 
that  put  forward  by  Christ — every  person  has 
within  him  some  tendencies  to  good  and  some  to 
evil.  He  is  also  naturally  immune  to  some 
agencies  of  evil  as  well  as  to  some  agencies  of 
good.  These  agencies  are  of  infinitely  varying 
strengths  and  proportions,  both  in  the  ethical 
sphere  and  in  the  physical.  There  are  racial, 
family,  and  individual  peculiarities,  in  the  one 
sphere  as  in  the  other.  As  we  have  before  stated, 
all  have  some  natural  power  of  resistance  to  evil ; 
else  none  would  be  good — even  comparatively 
so.  But  some  are  much  more  susceptible  to 
degrading  influences  than  are  others ;  while 
some,  again,  are  far  more  easily  than  others 
influenced  for  good. 

Natural  immunity  to  evil  agencies — like  natural 
immunity  to  some  physical  conditions — can  be 
increased.  And  a  natural  tendency  to  evil — 
like  a  natural  tendency  to  disease — can  be  readily 
increased  also.  An  innate  susceptibility  to  that 
which  is  good  may  be  developed  by  environment 
and  example — just  as  a  person  who  is  liable  to 
tuberculosis  will  readily  contract  that  disease 
from  contact  with  an  affected  person.  It  there- 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  263 

fore  follows  that  no  individual  should  be  judged 
by  his  acts  unless  his  tendencies  are  also  estimated. 
It  is  of  course  quite  another  matter  to  judge  the 
acts  themselves.  It  is  just  as  impossible  for  an 
individual  possessed  of  a  strong  inborn  immunity 
to  alcohol  to  become  a  drunkard,  as  it  is  for  the 
person  with  strong  hereditary  criminal  tendencies 
to  live  the  life  of  a  saint.  Neither  of  them 
deserves  any  credit  nor  any  blame,  except  in 
so  far  as  they  have  succeeded  or  failed  in  develop- 
ing or  crushing  the  innate  tendencies. 

These  moral  tendencies  and  insusceptibilities 
are  somewhat  different  in  the  two  sexes,  just  as 
males  are  more  liable  to  certain  physical  conditions 
(for  example,  colour-blindness  and  stammering) 
than  females,  and  just  as  females  are  more  sub- 
ject to  some  diseases  (for  example,  hysteria) 
than  males.  It  therefore  follows  that  an  identical 
condition  of  morality  and  religion  cannot  be 
expected  from  both  sexes.  One  sex  will  excel 
in  certain  directions,  will  exhibit  particular 
virtues  ;  the  other  will  be  more  likely  to  manifest 
other  virtues.  Men  will  be  prone  to  some  faults 
which  pass  lightly  over  the  heads  of  women, 
and  vice  versa.  These  considerations  must  be 
taken  into  account,  hi  forming  accurate  judgment 
in  any  given  case.  Such  a  statement  does  not, 
of  course,  imply  that  the  standard  attained  by  one 
sex  is  absolutely  higher  than  that  of  the  other. 
What  it  does  imply  is,  that  the  qualities  exhibited 
tend  to  be  somewhat  different.  It  will  hardly 


264         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

be  denied  that  naturally,  that  is,  by  inborn 
tendency,  women  are  more  religious  than  men. 
Whether  they  are  any  better  on  that  account- 
in  the  eyes  of  absolute  justice — may  be  questioned, 
as  was  long  ago  pointed  out  by  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes.  The  effect  of  the  sum  total  of  all  in- 
herited tendencies  in  any  individual  is  not  less 
marked  in  the  moral  sphere  than  in  the  physical, 
though  to  the  unobservant  it  is  perhaps  less 
obvious.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that,  by  a 
careful  selection  of  parents  for  several  successive 
generations  together  with  full  control  over  the 
moral  environment,  it  would  be  perfectly  possible 
to  produce  a  family  of  any  required  moral  standard 
— always  considering  the  recurrence  of  new  varia- 
tions from  time  to  time,  as  well  as  the  possibility 
of  some  of  the  characters  of  remote  ancestors 
appearing  in  the  offspring.  Whether  it  would 
be  a  desirable  course  to  take  or  not,  is  one  of 
the  questions  which  will  have  to  be  settled  in  the, 
perhaps  not  distant,  future. 

It  follows,  from  these  circumstances,  that  it  is 
manifestly  absurd  to  expect  a  large  number  of 
individuals  to  live,  think,  and  act,  in  an  identical 
manner  in  any  given  community.  Such  a  uni- 
formity of  type  is  absolutely  impossible  under 
natural  conditions  of  human  production,  and 
could  only  be  expected  by  those  entirely  ignorant 
of  all  the  factors  that  unite  in  the  making  of  a 
man.  It  is  the  duty  of  those  to  whom  the  ad- 
ministration of  a  community  is  entrusted,  to 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  265 

study  the  physical  and  moral  capacities  of  each 
individual,  and  to  place  him  or  her  in  such  cir- 
cumstances as  offer  the  greatest  development  for 
the  tendencies  to  good,  together  with  the  least 
opportunity  for  the  growth  of  propensities  to  evil. 
In  order  that  that  could  be  carried  out  with  the 
greatest  chance  of  success  and  the  least  possibility 
of  error,  the  most  minute  records  of  successive 
generations  of  families  would  have  to  be  kept, 
marriages  so  arranged  that  the  best  results  would 
follow  the  union  and — most  important  of  all — the 
training  of  the  children  begun  from  their  very  birth 
on  such  lines  as  their  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
ancestry  showed  to  be  the  most  suitable  in  each 
particular  case.  That  would  not  mean  that 
marriages  must  be  arranged  irrespective  of  the 
feelings  of  the  individuals  concerned.  Indeed,  such 
a  course  would  be  in  direct  opposition  to  all  the 
laws  of  moral  immunity  and  would  probably  result 
in  disaster,  because  it  is  the  two  individuals  con- 
cerned who  are  alone  best  able  to  estimate  the 
effect  upon  each  other  of  certain  parts  of  their 
nature.  But  it  does  mean  that  every  man  and 
woman  should  endeavour  to  become  so  physi- 
cally sound,  so  mentally  sane,  and  so  morally  per- 
fect, that  it  will  be  no  longer  possible  for  them 
to  contemplate  a  union  with  an  incompatible 
nature.  Such  individuals  could  not  be  unequally 
yoked  together.  Any  form  of  compulsion  destroys 
the  possibility  of  a  truly  natural  selection. 

It  often  happens  that  two  people  apparently 


266         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

very  different  from  each  other  are  strongly  and 
mutually  attracted.  This  is  a  natural  law  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  average  and  balance  of 
the  species.  It  is  necessary  in  a  large  community, 
in  order  that  the  social  life  of  that  community 
may  be  harmonious,  that  the  majority  of  its 
members  should  be  persons  of  average  physical 
development,  average  intellectual  ability,  and 
average  moral  standard.  That  average,  how- 
ever, in  the  evolution  of  the  race  should  be  a 
progressively  higher  one.  The  maintenance  of 
that  average  is  a  universal  law  found  to  prevail 
amongst  all  animals  and  plants.  The  progress 
of  the  race,  however,  is  hi  the  hands  of  a  few. 
Those  individuals  who  are  born  with  exceptional 
physical,  mental,  and  moral,  susceptibilities  and 
immunities,  are  those  who  have  great  capacity 
for  increasing  their  natural  power  of  resistance 
to  detrimental  agencies  of  all  kinds.  In  order 
that  these  select  few  may  attain  their  highest 
development  for  the  benefit  of  the  race,  it  is 
not  fitting  that  they  should  marry  outside  their 
own  physical,  mental,  or  moral  rank ;  but, 
within  that  rank  personal  choice  must  be  absol- 
utely unfettered.  When  extreme  exceptional 
characters  arise  in  a  community — which  generally 
happens  as  a  variation  in  a  somewhat-gifted 
family — the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  to 
preserve  and  accentuate  that  particular  char- 
acteristic which  has  appeared,  by  means  of  a 
judicious  union  in  marriage.  By  such  marriage 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY          267 

with  another  person  having  a  tendency  in  the 
same  direction,  or  a  similar  immunity  as  the 
case  may  be,  the  new  characteristic  would  be 
strengthened  and  perpetuated  for  the  benefit 
of  posterity.  Should  the  new  variation  be  of 
a  distinctly  injurious  kind,  either  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  individual  or  the  community, 
every  effort  must  be  made  to  eradicate  it,  in  the 
individual,  by  suitable  training  in  early  years, 
and,  in  the  race,  by  a  marriage  with  one  immune 
to  the  injurious  tendency  or  strongly  suscept- 
ible to  some  counteracting  quality.  It  might 
even  be  necessary  to  forbid  marriage  at  all; 
and  the  time  is  undoubtedly  coming  when  the 
community  at  large  will  have  to  decide  for  them- 
selves whether  unfit  individuals  should  be 
allowed  to  propagate  their  kind  at  the  expense 
of  the  community. 

In  order  that  the  best  results  may  be  obtained 
from  the  individuals  of  a  community  for  the 
benefit  of  all,  it  should  be  recognised,  of  course, 
that  certain  qualities  (immunities  and  suscepti- 
bilities) in  men  and  women  confer  upon  them 
special  fitness  or  unfitness  for  certain  occupa- 
tions. A  quality  that  is  advantageous  for  one 
occupation  may  be  a  very  distinct  disadvantage 
for  another.  A  man  whose  dominating  character- 
istic, for  example,  was  great  bodily  strength  with 
the  courage  of  the  lion  (that  is,  an  absolute  im- 
munity to  the  emotion  of  fear),  would  in  former 
days  obviously  have  found  his  forte  in  the  ranks 


268         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

of  warriors  ;  but  at  the  same  time  these  qualities 
— admirable  as  they  may  be  in  themselves — 
might  have  made  him  an  utter  failure  as  a  diplo- 
matist or  in  other  ranks  of  life.  Every  man  has 
the  defects  of  his  qualities.  The  deep  thinker, 
whose  patient  researches  bring  forth  results  which 
revolutionise  the  methods  of  a  century,  may  be 
— and  frequently  is — an  absolute  failure  as  a 
teacher  of  others.  One  man  can  create  thought ; 
another  can  impart  it.  The  placing  of  the  one 
in  such  a  position  where  he  is  expected  to  do  the 
work  of  the  other,  generally  results  in  a  wanton 
waste  of  exceptional  ability. 

Most  moral  defects  are  coexistent  with  cor- 
responding physical  degenerations  which  can 
sometimes  be  detected  but  which  are  frequently 
beyond  demonstration.  For  these  the  unfor- 
tunate individual  cannot  be  blamed,  but  it  is 
nevertheless  necessary  for  the  community  to 
take  steps  to  protect  itself  against  the  results. 
The  proper  treatment  for  such  cases  should  run 
upon  precisely  similar  lines  to  those  adopted  in  the 
case  of  purely  physical  imperfections.  The  in- 
dividual must  become  immune  to  the  special 
temptation  or  influence,  or  else  render  himself 
so  susceptible  to  some  more  powerful  influence 
of  an  opposing  kind  that  he  is  no  longer  a  danger 
to  himself  or  others.  It  is  just  as  practicable 
to  become  immune  to  hatred  as  it  is  to  become 
susceptible  to  love. 

The  great  difficulty,  however,  in  thus  dealing 


SUMMARY  OF  IMMUNITY  269 

practically  with  the  scientific  treatment  of  the 
non-physical  side  of  human  nature,  is  the  same 
difficulty  which  occasionally  interferes  with  the 
attainment  of  the  usual  results  in  the  physical 
realm.  That  difficulty  is,  as  we  have  mentioned 
already,  the  uncertainty  of  the  personal  factor 
of  variation.  And  along  with  this  is  the  fact 
that  different  moral  influences  act  in  varying 
degrees  at  various  times,  even  in  the  same 
individual.  Exactly  the  same  phenomena  is 
found  in  disease.  An  individual  may  be  living 
in  the  midst  of  an  epidemic  of  some  kind  for  weeks 
and  for  months,  without  becoming  infected.  At 
another  time  the  same  person  exposed  to  the 
same  infection  for  a  single  moment,  is  struck 
down.  The  same  thing  holds  good  in  the  moral 
and  religious  sphere.  A  man  will  resist  a  special 
temptation  for  years  ;  but  let  the  same  influence 
become  active  from  a  new  source,  and  he  falls. 
This  flaw  at  present  cannot  be  controlled  ;  but 
its  effects  are  sometimes  deplorable.  Again, 
exposure  to  some  moral  influences  leaves  the 
individual  immune  to  them  in  future,  whilst 
in  the  case  of  others  each  succeeding  exposure 
results  in  a  more  powerful  attack  than  before. 
But  by  taking  advantage  of  these  various  modes 
of  action  in  the  non-physical  as  well  as  in  the 
physical  world,  man  may  become  more  and  more 
immune  to  some  evils,  and  more  and  more  sus- 
ceptible to  some  good  influences,  whilst  the  sus- 
ceptibility to  evil  may  be  overcome  by  the  in- 


270         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

fluence  of  a  still  more  potent  kind  of  an  opposite 
nature. 

In  such  a  view  of  human  nature  as  this,  there 
can  be  no  laying-down  of  crude  dogmatic  asser- 
tions, no  hard-and-fast  line  of  conduct  or  belief 
to  which  all  must  subscribe  on  pain  of  perishing 
everlastingly,  no  threats  of  punishment  for 
faults  inherent  in  the  individual  nature,  but  a 
full  recognition  of  man's  inability,  of  himself, 
to  do  more  than  in  him  lies,  with  the  sure  and 
certain  promise  that  a  given  line  of  conduct  will 
be  followed  by  equally  certain  results,  to  a  degree 
in  which  each  individual  is  capable. 


PART  III 

THE  APPLICATION 


Part  III 

CHAPTER  XVII 

IMMUNITY   IN   RELIGION 

AT  length  we  are  in  a  position  to  apply  the 
explanation  of  man's  personality  put  forward 
in  these  pages,  to  religious  phenomena.  The 
reader  will  by  this  time  have  seen  very  clearly 
whither  our  argument  is  tending,  and  will  easily 
have  anticipated  for  himself  what  remains  yet 
to  be  stated.  Indeed,  we  might  have  stopped 
at  this  point — satisfied  with  the  simple  statement 
that  as  it  is  in  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
spheres,  so  it  is  in  whatever  other  sphere  remains. 
After  all,  the  subject  in  which  religious  phenomena 
take  place  is  an  individual ;  and  an  individual 
is  made  by  processes  which  we  have  already 
fully  studied.  Further,  we  are  only  concerned 
with  that  individual  in  so  far  as  he  manifests 
in  his  life  certain  remarkable  changes — changes 
which  have  been  recorded  as  partaking  of  the 
mysterious  and  resulting  from  the  interference 
in  man's  nature  of  supernatural  laws.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  must  be  quite  obvious  by  this 
time  that  the  religious  individuality — the  spiritual 

S  273 


274         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

life — just  as  any  other  kind  of  life,  is  the  sum 
total  of  what  we  have  learned  to  call  immunities 
and  susceptibilities  of  any  given  nature.  It 
only  remains  to  state  the  answer  to  the  problem 
which  we  set  out  to  solve,  in  the  terms  of  the 
laws  which  we  have  found  to  apply  universally. 
As  we  have  already  said,  the  statement  will 
have  been  anticipated  and  could  have  been  quite 
well  left  for  each  reader  to  suggest  to  himself ; 
but  it  may  be  as  well  to  make  some  attempt 
to  express  this  answer  in  terms  so  simple,  as 
to  admit  of  no  possible  misunderstanding,  an 
attempt  which  may  assist  some,  and  attract 
others  to  make  the  experiment  for  themselves. 

Finally,  then,  comes  the  tremendous  claim  made 
by  the  founders  of  all  systems  of  religion,  and 
pre-eminently  by  Christ — the  claim  that  they 
were  able  to  confer  upon  all  who  would 
submit  themselves  to  the  method  put  forward, 
a  capacity  for  living  the  greatest  life.  That 
claim  was  made  in  no  ambiguous  words,  and  it 
applied  to  every  part  of  human  nature — physical, 
mental,  and  conspicuously  to  the  moral.  Christ 
Himself  had  no  shadow  of  doubt  upon  the  matter 
at  all.  He  was  firmly  convinced  that  He — and 
apparently  He  alone — held  the  solution  of  the 
treatment  which  should  be  applied  to  human 
nature  in  order  that  that  nature  should  rise  to 
its  highest  level.  We  are  not  concerned 
with  any  other  system  than  that  founded  by  Him 
and  which  bears  His  name,  nor  with  any  other 


IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION  275 

methods  than  those  which  He  put  forward ; 
but  it  may  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  methods 
of  operation  of  any  other  system  and  of  any  other 
teacher  are  based  upon  exactly  the  same  laws. 

Put  into  modern  scientific  language,  the  offer 
made  by  the  founder  of  Christianity  is  that  of 
a  method  of  treatment  for  the  individual,  in 
virtue  of  which  method  and  as  the  unfailing 
result  of  which  treatment  that  individual  may 
become  resistant  to  all  adversities  which  may 
happen  to  the  body  and  to  all  evil  thoughts 
which  may  assault  and  hurt  the  soul.  In  other 
words,  what  is  offered  by  Christianity  is  a  com- 
plete immunity  to  harmful  or  destructive  agencies 
of  every  kind,  an  immunity  which  is  a  necessity 
— from  the  frailty  of  our  nature — for  the  living 
of  the  greatest  life.  It  is  claimed  for  this  system 
that  man  can  be  rendered  insusceptible  to  moral 
infection  and  to  mental  sin,  as  well  as  to  physical 
suffering.  As  regards  the  last  point,  it  need 
only  be  said  here  that  Christ's  gifts  of  healing 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  different  in  kind  from 
those  of  others,  but  only  different  in  degree — 
a  degree  which  in  itself  can  hardly  be  regarded 
as  astonishing,  if  the  character  of  the  operator 
be  taken  into  consideration.  No  one  who  knows 
anything  at  all  about  the  nervous  phenomena 
which  can  be  produced  by  certain  individuals 
in  other  individuals,  can  have  any  difficulty 
in  formulating  a  perfectly  satisfactory  explanation 
of  Christ's  power  in  this  direction.  It  is  not  with 


276         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

that  aspect  that  we  are  specially  concerned. 
We  are  in  search  of  the  explanation  of  the  greatest 
lives  which  can  be  produced  in  accordance  with 
His  methods.  We  want  the  answer  to  the 
question,  How  ?  We  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  method  is  that  of  every  great  religious 
teacher  and  that — in  one  single  phrase — it  is 
nothing  more — and  there  can  be  nothing  greater 
— than  the  application  of  the  universal  laws 
of  immunity  in  the  sphere  of  the  physical  and  the 
non-physical. 

The  method  advised  is  precisely  that  of  the 
modern  scientific  physician  who  is  not  content 
to  trust  to  his  patients'  inborn  power  of  resistance 
to  disease  in  order  to  obtain  recovery,  because 
he  knows  full  well  that  the  risk  is  too  great. 
The  moral  and  spiritual  teacher  sees  the  same 
risk  in  his  sphere,  and  takes  the  same  line.  The 
scientific  physician  urges  upon  his  patient  the 
advisability  of  submitting  himself  to  a  pro- 
tecting treatment  rather  than  of  allowing  himself 
to  be  exposed  to  suffering  from  infection  in  the 
hope  of  acquiring  immunity  on  recovery.  In 
other  words,  both  realise  that  prevention  is  better 
than  cure.  Infection  of  all  kinds  is  all  around  us 
— physical  infection,  mental  infection,  moral  in- 
fection. The  religious  teacher  offers  a  method 
of  treatment  which  is  claimed  to  render  an  in- 
dividual insusceptible  to  moral  infection,  at  any 
rate  for  a  time — a  method  of  treatment  which 
is  safe  in  its  mode  of  application  and  which  is 


IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION          277 

not  merely  preventive  but  also  curative.  That 
this  claim  can  be  substantiated,  is  a  simple 
matter  of  experience.  It  can  be  seen  operating 
any  day  in  the  lives  of  those  who  are  submitting 
themselves  to  its  influence.  True,  the  effect  is 
temporary.  All  artificial  methods  of  conferring 
immunity  are  so  more  or  less ;  but  the  supply 
is  inexhaustible  and  the  result  certain.  All 
religious  teachers  have  recognised  this.  It  is 
never  stated  by  any  of  them  that  the  process 
is  a  mere  matter  of  a  moment,  requiring  no  further 
application,  but  rather  that  continued  effort 
in  the  direction  indicated  is  the  essential  factor 
for  success.  Like  the  modern  physician,  too, 
the  religious  teacher  has  realised  that  it  is  not 
desirable  for  the  individual  to  experience  the 
effects  of  demoralising  agencies  at  all,  even  should 
he  thereby  acquire  immunity.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  that  process  is  a  dangerous  one. 
The  claim  is  that  there  is  no  necessity  to  suffer 
from  moral  disease  at  all,  even  in  a  modified 
form.  The  treatment  is  ready  for  use.  It  has 
been  elaborated  by  many  experiments  upon 
immense  numbers  of  individuals,  the  susceptible 
person  being  invited  to  put  himself  under  the 
influence  offered,  in  order  to  find  whether  he 
will  acquire  immunity  from  attacks  which  would 
otherwise  prove  too  potent  for  him  to  resist. 
Just  as,  in  the  sphere  of  disease,  we  have  come 
to  sea  that  it  is  too  dangerous  to  expose  people 
to  diseases,  such  as  small-pox,  with  the  view 


278         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

and  in  the  hope  that  they  will  acquire  immunity 
on  recovery,  so  those  who  lay  down  the  moral 
law,  have  clearly  recognised  that  the  infection 
of  sin  is  too  deadly  to  be  treated  on  those  lines. 
Experience  teaches  that  the  majority  of  those 
who  suffer  will  reap  the  moral  death  which  is 
the  wages  of  sin. 

Christianity  therefore  claims  that  if  the  advice 
of  its  founder  be  followed  it  will  be  found  a  simple 
and  certain  prophylactic  from  sin,  or  at  any  rate 
from  its  most  serious  results,  and  that  it  is  so 
because  of  an  immunity  conferred  which  will  save 
a  soul  even  if  it  be  in  extremis.  This  influence  will 
be  found  so  strong  that  it  is  able  to  overcome 
all  other  influences  which  are  of  an  antagonistic 
nature.  There  is  nothing  which  is  too  strong 
for  it ;  but  it  is  an  influence  which  must  be  sought 
continually,  lest  its  effects  wear  off.  All  acquired 
immunities  tend  to  do  this.  Because  an  individual 
is  immune  to-day  it  does  not  follow  that  he  will 
be  equally  so  a  year  hence,  nor  even  to-morrow, 
when  he  may  be  once  more  exposed  to  the  same 
infection  or  temptation.  Therefore,  whatever 
means  be  adopted  to  confer  this  artificial  immunity 
upon  individuals,  those  means  must  be  sought 
constantly. 

Stripped  of  all  the  dogmas  and  practices  which 
have  grown  up  around  Christ's  own  life  and  teach- 
ing, that  is  the  offer  which  He  makes  to  mankind. 
In  the  light  of  the  study  of  the  laws  of  immunity, 
it  appears  a  strictly  scientific  offer.  It  undertakes 


IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION  279 

to  prevent  the  operation  of  one  influence  or  agency 
or  set  of  such,  by  that  of  another  more  potent. 
That  is  the  law  of  life.  The  thing  must  happen. 
It  is  the  method  which  we  ourselves  adopt  in 
dealing  with  our  fellow-men  in  daily  life.  It  is 
the  only  method  which  can  be  adopted  to  bring 
about  results  with  certainty,  and  it  is  the  only 
way  in  which  the  individual  can  be  saved  from 
the  results  of  any  influence — be  that  influence 
physical  or  non-physical. 

What,  then,  are  the  conditions  necessary  for 
any  person  who  desires  to  become  the  possessor 
of  this  Christ-given  immunity?  The  answer  is 
clearly  laid  down  by  the  teacher  Himself,  both 
by  His  spoken  words  which  are  recorded,  and  in 
the  descriptions  of  His  dealings  with  men  who 
came  to  him  for  advice.  The  conditions  are 
precisely  the  same  as  those  which  would  apply 
to  any  individual  who  desired  to  obtain  an  im- 
munity to  any  harmful  agency  in  any  part  of 
his  nature,  and  who,  for  that  purpose,  sought 
the  advice  of  an  expert  upon  the  subject.  Such 
an  individual  would  have  to  adopt  one  of  two 
attitudes.  He  might,  in  the  first  place,  put 
himself  wholly  and  unreservedly  in  the  hands 
of  the  expert  with  a  perfect  faith  that  whatever 
the  advice  given  and  whatever  the  treatment 
adopted  would  be  the  best  under  the  circum- 
stances. That  is  the  condition  of  the  receptive 
mind — the  attitude  of  faith,  possessed  in  the 
greatest  degree  by  the  child-mind  which,  from 


280         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

lack  of  experience,  is  willing  and  able  to  act  upon 
the  authority  of  others.  Such  a  person,  having 
selected  to  the  best  of  his  ability  what  he  con- 
siders the  best  possible  source  from  which  to 
obtain  the  information  required,  believes  without 
questioning — and  acts  accordingly.  His  reward 
is  the  result  obtained. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  there  are  individuals, 
as  we  saw  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  book, 
in  whom,  for  some  reason  or  another,  this 
attitude  of  mind  is  not  available.  The  mind 
has  either  been  interfered  with  or  resisted 
in  its  development  in  such  a  way  that  it 
can  no  longer  acquire  truth  by  the  simple  act 
of  faith ;  or  else  it  has  been  so  educated  in  all 
its  various  phases  that  it  has  acquired  the  habit 
of  accepting  no  truth  except  such  as  can  be 
demonstrated.  This  is  the  type  of  the  modern 
mind  which  has  adopted  the  scientific  attitude  of 
judging  results  by  experiment.  The  advice  to 
such  an  individual  given  by  such  an  expert 
would  not  be  the  same  as  that  given  to  the  child- 
mind.  He  would  be  told  that  the  result  he  desired 
to  obtain  would  be  acquired  by  following  out 
certain  lines  of  conduct.  In  other  words,  no 
effort  would  be  made  to  convince  him  beforehand 
of  the  truth  and  validity  of  the  advice  offered ; 
but  he  would  be  made  to  convince  himself  of  its 
truth,  by  observation  of  the  results  which 
would  follow  experimental  application.  In  the 
one  case  the  result  is  obtained  by  simple  faith ; 


IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION  281 

in  the  other  case  the  result  is  obtained  by  the 
observation  of  experimental  processes.  To  the 
latter  individual  the  reward  is  the  same,  but, 
in  his  case,  belief  comes  last  instead  of  first.  It 
is  a  result  of  experience — a  marked  characteristic 
of  the  minds  of  the  present  day.  The  explanation 
in  both  cases,  as  well  as  the  process,  is  identical. 
Does  a  man  find  himself  unable  to  adopt  the 
child-attitude  ?  Then,  should  he  wish  to  obtain 
the  result  which  he  sees  is  obtained  by  those 
who  can  adopt  it,  all  he  has  to  do  is  to 
follow  out  certain  lines  of  physical  mental,  or 
moral  procedures,  and  note  the  results  which 
happen.  He  will  then  find  that  he  obtains,  as  the 
result  of  his  experiment,  exactly  the  same  condi- 
tion as  the  former  person  did  without  question. 

May  we  say,  then,  that  we  have,  to  some  extent 
at  least,  answered  the  questions  which  were 
suggested  by  our  problem.  Some  of  these 
questions  were  :  How  can  the  act  of  believing 
bring  about  the  results  claimed  for  it  in  the 
direction  of  living  the  greatest  life  ?  How  is  it 
that  the  wicked  man  turns  away  from  his  wicked- 
ness and  does  that  which  is  lawful  and  right  ? 
How  are  some  individuals  so  obviously  less  sinful 
than  others  ?  Why  do  we  see  that  some  men 
suddenly  change  the  whole  method  of  their 
lives,  and  why  do  others  do  so  gradually  ?  In 
a  word,  what  is  the  power  in  what  are  called 
religious  processes  to  produce  these  startling 
phenomena  ? 


282         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Belief  accomplishes  what  is  claimed  for  it, 
simply  because  it  is  followed  by  certain  courses 
of  action ;  a  faith  without  works  produces 
nothing.  The  works  follow,  because  the  mind 
becomes  more  and  more  immune  to  certain 
agencies  the  longer  and  the  more  strongly  the 
belief  is  held.  The  standard  reached  differs 
with  every  individual,  because  the  kind  and 
amount  of  the  inborn  tendencies  differ.  The 
capacity  of  acquisition  possessed  by  one  individual 
is  not  that  of  every  other,  though  at  the  same 
time  there  is  an  average  capacity  in  the  majority 
of  people. 

The  suddenness,  or  otherwise,  of  the  change 
observed  in  those  acting  under  Christian  influ- 
ences demands  a  further  word.  Be  the  change 
sudden  or  gradual,  it  is  in  the  nature  of  an 
acquired  immunity,  the  result  of  an  opposing 
influence  coming  into  action.  We  have  already 
seen  many  cases  which  illustrate  how  an  immunity 
may  be  acquired  suddenly,  and  how  it  may  be 
acquired  gradually.  In  the  physical  sphere  a 
sudden  acquisition  of  immunity  is  the  result  of 
the  transference  of  substances  elaborated  in  the 
tissues  of  one  individual,  to  those  of  another. 
Such  a  process  is  carried  out,  for  example,  in  the 
serum  treatment  of  diphtheria.  An  immunity 
acquired  in  such  a  way  has  one  advantage  and 
one  disadvantage.  The  advantage  is,  that  its 
action  is  immediate  and  curative  and  that  the 
process  can  be  carried  out  upon  an  individual 


IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION  283 

even  though  he  be  at  the  point  of  death.  The 
disadvantage  of  such  immunities  acquired  sud- 
denly is,  that  the  effect  is  transient  and  temporary, 
and  confers  a  protection  which  lasts  only  for  a 
week  or  two.  Nevertheless,  the  source  of  that 
immunity,  when  once  known,  is  always  available, 
and  the  supply  of  the  serum,  once  its  manufacture 
is  understood,  is  unlimited. 

The  immunity  which  is  gradually  acquired 
is,  however,  on  quite  another  footing.  It  is 
attained  by  the  individual  hi  one  of  two  ways. 
It  is  either  the  result  of  recovery  from  the 
disease  itself  or  a  modified  form  of  the  disease 
(a  process  which  we  have  seen  repeatedly  to 
be  very  dangerous)  ;  or  else  it  is  obtained  by 
becoming  possessed  of  some  antagonising  influ- 
ence or  by  establishing  a  habit  of  tolerance. 
The  advantage  of  this  gradually  obtained  im- 
munity is,  that,  once  it  is  possessed  by  an  in- 
dividual, its  effect  is  permanent,  or  at  any  rate 
lasts  for  a  very  considerable  period.  The  dis- 
advantage of  this  process  is,  that  the  method  is 
not  adapted  for  immediate  curative  processes 
but  is  a  method  of  prevention.  Now,  prevention 
is  better  than  cure  ;  and  the  conclusion  therefore 
is,  that  the  scientific  expert  would  advise  the 
individual  to  obtain  an  immunity  by  slow  and 
gradual  processes,  in  order  that,  when  obtained, 
it  becomes  a  permanent  characteristic  of  its 
possessor.  He  would  at  the  same  time,  of 
course,  never  hesitate  to  prescribe  the  curative 


284         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

treatment  for  an  individual   who  was   already 
suffering. 

Once  more,  we  repeat,  these  laws  are  universal. 
Their  application  in  spheres  other  than  physical 
should  now  be  so  obvious  as  to  require  no  further 
elaboration.  The  sudden  change  of  character 
is  the  immunity  obtained  as  the  result  of  a 
profound  mental  and  emotional  impression  which 
manifests  itself  immediately  in  an  altered  course 
of  action.  This  phenomenon  is  constantly  seen 
in  those  cases  which  are  described  as  "  sudden 
conversions."  It  is  a  commonplace  of  observation 
that  such  sudden  changes  are  usually  followed 
by  a  relapse  into  the  old  methods  of  living. 
As  we  have  seen,  that  must  be  expected  in  the 
nature  of  the  case.  Where  the  result  is  per- 
manent, it  is  because  there  is  a  constant  renewal 
of  the  same  potent  influence  from  the  same  or 
a  similar  source ;  and  people  who  are  actuated 
in  their  lives  by  influences  of  this  kind  require 
to  be  constantly  exposed  to  the  action  of  these 
powerful  emotions.  Such  individuals  are  to  be 
found  in  numbers  amongst  the  more  emotional — 
not  to  say  hysterical — members  of  all  religious 
persuasions.  They  can  only  maintain  their 
immunity  apparently  by  repeatedly  submitting 
themselves  to  the  process  described.  There 
follows,  however,  in  those  who  do  so,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  habit  of  life  which  may,  and 
in  many  cases  does,  become  fixed — so  removing 
the  necessity  for  repeated  emotional  stimulant. 


IMMUNITY  IN  RELIGION  285 

In  the  other  group  are  those  in  whom  is  seen 
no  very  striking  change  in  their  mode  of  living 
at  any  given  moment,  and  of  whom  it  could  never 
be  said  that  they  became  "  converted  "  at  any 
particular  time,  but  who,  nevertheless,  show  a 
constant  and  gradual  progress  towards  a  higher 
life.  One  after  another  of  their  harmful  tend- 
encies are  gradually  becoming  eliminated,  and 
in  their  place  are  a  number  of  susceptibilities  to 
good,  which  lead  in  time  to  the  remark  one  often 
hears  of  certain  individuals,  to  the  effect  that 
they  seem  very  different  from  what  they  were 
some  years  ago.  No  sudden  transition  has  taken 
place,  no  hysterical  manifestation  of  emotion, 
but  a  gradual  process  culminating  in  the  high 
ideal  of  acquired  immunity. 

The  Founder  of  Christianity  Himself  clearly 
recognised  these  two  distinct  processes.  He 
used  both  methods.  To  those  who  could  believe 
without  effort  and  act  accordingly,  He  gave  the 
advice  to  do  so.  To  those  who  could  not  believe 
but  were  willing  to  act  and  be  convinced  by 
results,  He  gave  clear  instructions  as  to  what  they 
should  do,  and  what  they  should  not  do,  together 
with  the  promise  that  the  result  would  be  what 
was  desired. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE  SCIENCE  IN  CHRISTIANITY 

IN  the  early  part  of  our  study  concerning;  the 
making  of  a  man,  we  drew  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  growth  and  development  of  his  inborn 
tendencies  (susceptibilities  and  immunities)  were 
in  response  to  the  stimuli  of,  first,  nutrition  ; 
secondly,  use ;  and,  thirdly,  injury.  We  may 
conclude  our  brief  application  of  the  laws  of 
immunity  in  the  sphere  of  religious  phenomena 
by  showing  that  the  same  fact  applies  to  this 
sphere  also.  What  is  meant  by  nourishment,  in 
this  sense  ?  It  is  surely  evident  that  growth 
in  the  "  things  of  the  spirit  "  must  be  just  as 
dependent  upon  an  adequate  food  supply  as  is 
the  growth  of  the  physical  body  !  There  must 
be  a  specific  pabulum  to  be  digested  and  assimil- 
ated and  so  built  up  into  the  complete  individu- 
ality. The  food,  therefore,  in  such  a  case  is 
that  upon  which  the  mind  feeds  and  the  emotions 
develop — influences  from  without  which  call 
forth  their  corresponding  tendencies  within — 
ideas  suggested  from  many  sources  stimulating 
mental  processes  in  many  directions.  Without 
such  food  the  inborn  tendencies  could  never 

286 


THE  SCIENCE  IN  CHRISTIANITY     287 

develop.  With  the  supply  of  such  food  the 
capacity  for  use  will  come  and,  with  the  capacity, 
the  necessity.  Full  many  a  soul  remains  in  embryo 
for  lack  of  the  specific  nutrition  which  will  enable 
it  to  grow  !  Full  many  a  soul  remains  but  half- 
developed  because  in  its  immediate  environment 
its  tendencies  have  no  scope  for  use  or  effort !  And 
how  easily  is  injury  inflicted  upon  this  part  of 
man's  individuality  !  How  many  scars  and  half- 
healed  wounds — some  obvious  and  others  hidden — 
bear  testimony  to  the  spiritual  warfare  and  strife  ! 

There  is  one  thought  which  arises  in  the  mind 
when  thinking  thus  of  the  development  of  the 
Greatest  Life,  and  that  thought  is  this  :  Can  we 
be  held  blameless  if,  from  some  lack  of  response 
to  some  influence,  we  thereby  prevent  or  hinder 
the  development  in  another  of  tendencies  to  good  ! 
We  may  be  assured  of  this — that  there  is  no  more 
potent  method  of  forming  an  individuality  on  the 
lines  of  the  Christ-character  than  of  giving  the 
individual  an  opportunity  of  being  Christ-like. 

The  central  idea  of  His  teaching  is  often  said  to 
be  summarised  in  the  words,  "  As  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them  like- 
wise." This  is  precisely  where  we  fail  in  our 
duty  to  our  neighbour;  but  the  precise  result 
of  our  failure  is  not  so  clearly  recognised.  What 
happens  is  this.  By  refusing  to  allow  him  to 
exercise  his  best  tendencies  on  our  behalf,  we 
thereby  inhibit  and  stunt  his  spiritual  growth. 
Most  of  us  hesitate  before  we  allow  our  fellow- 


288         SCIENTIFIC  CHRISTIANITY 

men  "  to  do  unto  us  "  acts  of  a  loving,  kindly, 
friendly,  or  self-sacrificing  nature.  We  are  too 
proud  to  put  ourselves — as  we  say — under  an 
obligation  to  any  one.  Such  independence  is 
all  very  well ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
every  kind  thought  repelled,  every  kind  act 
refused,  every  good  tendency  suppressed,  means 
so  much  injury  done  to  the  development  of  The 
Greatest  Life  in  the  individual  concerned.  The 
sensation  of  Christliness  once  experienced — no 
matter  in  how  feeble  and  dim  a  degree — creates 
an  intense  longing  for  its  continuous  presence. 
That  sensation  comes  only  as  the  result  of  acting 
or  thinking  as  Christ  would  have  acted  or  thought, 
under  similar  or  identical  circumstances.  It  is 
surely,  therefore,  the  gravest  of  responsibilities 
to  refuse  any  individual  an  opportunity  of  show- 
ing kindness,  mercy,  love,  or  any  other  virtue, 
towards  ourselves  !  These  qualities  only  grow  in 
response  to  the  stimulus  of  use.  By  such  refusal 
we  not  only  discourage  any  further  effort  of  a 
similar  kind,  but  may  be  the  unconscious  means 
of  absolutely  depriving  a  good  tendency  of  its 
only  method  of  growth.  Surely  the  world  is  not 
so  full  of  charity — the  great  love — that  any  one 
can  afford  to  reject  what  is  offered  !  "  The  great 
mystery  of  God's  Providence  is  the  permitted 
crushing-out  of  the  flowering  instincts.  Death 
is  no  riddle  compared  to  this," l  and  is  infinitely 
less  to  be  dreaded. 

1  O.  W.  Holme* 


THE  SCIENCE  IN  CHRISTIANITY      289 

Can  we  not  trust  the  universal  law  !  There  are 
no  limitations  to  the  development  of  man's 
Greatest  Life  except  those  set  by  his  own  lack 
of  knowledge.  As  science  grows  and  knowledge 
deepens,  life  becomes  more  clear.  We  have  but 
to  move  as  nature  guides.  What  has  been  done 
in  man,  man  can  again  do  for  himself.  He  may 
become  immune  to  evil  and  susceptible  to  good 
by  processes  identical  to  those  used  in  other 
directions.  As  the  Greatest  Life  becomes  the 
standard  of  success,  the  fittest  will  survive  and 
the  unfit  be  eliminated.  In  time  it  will  be 
natural  to  be  immune  to  evil,  and  that  which 
happened  once  will  be  the  rule.  There  is  a 
record  in  a  book  of  a  man  who  was  entirely  good — 
immune  to  evil,  and  yet  of  human  parents.  His 
mother's  name  was  MARY. 


FINIS. 


UCSOUTHCTN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FAdUTY 


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